Yandere Larie
by lolzwaitwhat
Summary: A combination of An, Ann n Anny and Yandere Simulator: Larie Kanker has never felt anything before he met his beloved Ann, however, he's not the only one who fancies her. But not for long. WARNING: THIS CONTAINS GORE AND MURDER, IF YOU ARE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THIS, DON'T READ! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
_I can't feel anything._

 _For as long as I can remember, I have never been able to feel emotions._

 _I pretend to be normal when I'm around my brothers, my dad and other people, but on the inside, I feel_ _ **nothing**_ _._

 _It' s not as bad as it sounds. I mean,_ _ **I know**_ _that I'm broken,_

 _But I don't care._

 _This was normal for me._

 _That is until I met_ _ **her.**_

 _My Muffin~_

 _For the first time I_ _ **felt**_ _something._

 _A strong desire._

 _A_ _ **longing**_ _, a_ _ **yearning**_ _, a_ _ **craving**_ _._

 _Now I_ _ **finally**_ _understand what it means to be human._

 _To be_ _ **alive**_ _._

 _I'm_ _ **addicted**_ _to the way she makes me feel, I don't care about anything else._

 _She is_ _ **everything**_ _to me._

 _And now, someone is trying to_ _ **take her from me**_ _._

 _He wants her, but not in the way_ _ **I**_ _want her._

 _He could never appreciate her the way I do._

 _He doesn't deserve her._

 _She belongs to_ _ **me**_ _and_ _ **me**_ _alone._

 _It was at that time that he taught me a new emotion;_

 _ **RAGE**_

 _I want to_ _ **stop**_ _him._

 _I want to_ _ **hurt**_ _him._

 _I want to_ _ **kill**_ _him._

 _There is nothing I won't do for my muffin. I wont let anyone come between us._

 _I don't care what I have to do._

 _I don't care who I have to hurt._

 _I don't care whose blood I have to spill._

 _I won't let_ _ **anyone**_ _take her from me._

 _ **Nothing**_ _else matters,_ _ **no one**_ _else matters_

 _ **Ann**_

 _ **Will**_

 _ **Be**_

 _ **Mine**_

 _She doesn't have a choice._

.

.

.

He kept his distance as he followed a trio of girls, his eyes focused on the shortest of the three, a small love addled expression on his face as he admired her from afar.

Her long, billowing black hair was as dark as a star-less night and her eyes were like dazzling green gems as she laughed, her cute gap-toothed grin making his heart whack back and forth against his ribs. "My Sweet Muffin." He sighed longingly.

He quickly fled out of sight into an alleyway when she suddenly stopped in front of a bookstore, and then called out to her friends, "Ladies!" she called, catching her friends' attention, "It's Wednesday." She reminded them with a sweet gap-toothed smile. Her red haired friend smiled vibrantly and began jumping up and down excitedly, making her glasses bounce on her face as she cried, "NEW COMIC DAY!" she cheered as she raced inside. The largest of the trio shook her head as she and the object of Larie's affection walked inside and sighed, "Why do we have to come here every week?"

"Because of my thirst for knowledge, An's love of comics and," she pulled out her phone, typed in it for a moment and held it up to her companion, "It seems that the newest issue of 'Teen Heartthrobs' is out."

"New Teen Heartthrobs?" The largest one cried, her eyes widening with desire as she grabbed her friend and dashed inside, "Why didn't ya say so?!" she demanded as they vanished into the store.

Larie waited a beat before walking casually into the shop and began flipping through nearby comic books, knowing his younger brother Jay would have a fit if he had gone inside a book store on a Wednesday without picking him up a new issue of… he really didn't pay attention to what his brother read… oh well, he'd pick up whatever and hope it would pacify his younger brother. It was the least he could do for pretending that he had to stay behind to be scolded for flicking gum into the hair someone who bullied his beloved (he wasn't gonna listen to that shit, in his opinion, she got what she deserved) so he could follow his gal to make sure she arrived home safely. He quickly pretended to browse while keeping an eye on his Muffin through the blue locks that covered his right eye.

He smiled warmly as he watched her trace her fingers down the spines of the books, a delighted expression on her face as she would turn and comment on her friends' choices in literature before returning to the shelf. She gasped as she eagerly pulled out a thick volume with a beetle on the front cover, "It's finally out!" She squealed as she hugged the book to her chest, "The Royal Entomological Society's Newest Volume!" His heart felt as if it was melting as he pulled away from the comics and followed her as she began bouncing on her toes towards her friends at the check out… only for a familiar blonde pretty boy to walk into her and knocked them both to the ground, their books falling to the ground beside them. His heart froze in his throat for a second before his body felt ablaze with rage.

"Oh, geez, sorry Double-N!" Nate said as he quickly stood up and held out his hand to her to help her back up.

"I-it's quite alright, Nate." She replied, her cheeks pink as she took his hand and he lifted her off the ground and back onto her feet, "I-it was just an accident." Larie began gnashing his teeth and the shelf he had been hiding behind began to shake as he began crushing a part of it with his bare hands, his knuckles a bloodless white as Nate then picked up their books, handed hers back to her, apologized once more and even offered to pay for her book, she turned down his offer but thanked him for it. Larie couldn't hear the rest of what they were talking about over the sound of his teeth grinding and the cracking of the shelf.

She belonged to _him_ and _him alone_ and here this shit was, holding her hand and trying to buy her love with books and… and… GRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHH! HE JUSTED WANTED TO STRANGLE THE BLONDE BABE STEALING BASTARD UNTIL HE WAS LIMP IN HIS HANDS!

Finally, Nate left, waving at the three girls and saying something that Larie still couldn't hear before heading out. Larie then took deep breaths to calm himself as the girls began excitedly chattering amongst themselves as they paid for their things and walked out.

He stayed in the shop to buy his brother a comic (so he wouldn't seem suspicious) and to calm down before resuming his tail on the trio and promising himself that the next time Nate made a move on his Muffin, it would be the last thing he'd ever do.

.

.

.

The next morning, he got up, got ready for the day and had breakfast with his brothers before walking to school with them, keeping his eye out for his Muffin as he walked. After making it to school, the three separated, Jay went to the library to read some old comics (because apparently Larie had bought him a different one than he wanted but he still found it interesting so he wanted to read some more volumes), Tee went to the bathroom to take a quick leak before heading to the classroom and seeing how many spitballs he could get on the chalkboard before the teacher came in and Larie went to the roof so he could have a nice view of his lovely lady when she arrived at school.

He eagerly scanned the throngs of girls coming into school for her, which wasn't easy since Peach Creek Academy had been an all girls middle and high school up until this year, when they began letting boys into the school due to a rich alumni telling them that she wanted her grandson to attend her old school. But while it could be tricky, his Muffin _always_ arrived with her tall, bright haired friends, so he only needed to find a red and pink head in the crowd and then he'd find his raven-haired beauty.

He was more eager than usual to find her only in the company of her two female friends today, since he had nightmares about Nate stealing his beloved away keep him up all night. He let out a sigh of relief when he finally spotted her with her friends, chatting and giggling joyfully.

And with no Nate in sight.

He then nestled into his arms on the railing with a loving expression plastered on his face as he watched her walk to school, almost in slow motion.

Her dark hair flowing behind her, contrasting beautifully against her porcelain skin, her vibrant gap toothed smile was wide on her face while her green eyes sparkled with warmth and laughter. Larie felt his body relax and a warm, light feeling fill his chest as he watched her walk towards the school. So many emotions, she had made him feel, so many and so strongly that he'd been able to put names to them; Bliss, happiness, joy, delight, jovial, affection, love and desire… so many positive feelings buzzing through him because of his Muffin.

She vanished from sight into the school, which was his cue to head downstairs for class, which he only started caring about going to this year when he met the woman of his dreams and learned that they were in the same class, despite her perfect scores on every test and his lack luster grades. It was well known that she had been offered a full scholarship to the best school in the country, but she turned it down to stay with her friends (most likely to help them academically). He stopped suddenly as an idea struck him and a large grin spread across his face.

Instead of worrying about Nate trying to steal his girl away, why not use that big brain of hers to help him get closer to her so she wouldn't give Nate the time of day?

Larie's grades weren't all that great, (that was due more to not caring than being stupid) so maybe he could ask her during study hall today if she could help him in math or science or something. And she knew a lot about bugs and plants, maybe she could tell him about that white butterfly with blood red on the tips of it's wings that had been trapped in the boy's bathroom on the second floor that he released when throwing the door open cause he had to pee, or that weird beetle with the long neck he had seen in a book once with his brothers when they were eight.

He walked down the stairs with a spring in his step, he wasn't gonna let Nate steal her away, he was gonna make sure that he was the only guy in her eyes.

.

.

.

After school, Larie made his way to the library, a sketch of the butterfly that was trapped in the boy's bathroom in his hands. He hoped he could talk to her about it without being interrupted like they had been earlier when his study hall plan had tanked.

It started out fine, he asked his beloved if she could help him understand what they were learning in math class, only for the teacher to ask her to take their classmate, Jenny, to the infirmary because she somehow got her head stuck in her desk. _Again_.

The teacher then slipped out with a stack of paper in hand, announcing they had to make some copies and would be back soon. Nate offered to help him out with Math in his lovely lady's absence, which was the opposite of what he had wanted, but he figured maybe he could get some dirt on his rival and use it against him. So he shrugged and tried to keep his discontent off his face (which, after faking emotions for almost all of his life, wasn't all that hard) while he began pulling out his notebook… That is, until the biggest skank in school, Karen, snapped at him, saying that she had asked Nate earlier to help her with science and that there was no point in trying to teach him anyway, because he was a total idiot. She had said this loud enough for the entire class to hear her, hell, it wouldn't have surprised anyone if the teacher, who was currently on another floor of the school to make copies of notes for an upcoming quiz, had heard her. After she blurted this out, her groupies began laughing as if she had told the funniest joke ever and began weighing in, going on and on about how stupid Larie probably was and began urging Nate to only help Karen and leave him be.

Jay and Tee's faces pulled into furious scowls as they shoved out of their seats and onto their feet, ready to pummel her, but Larie waved them off. Even though, he too, was resisting the urge to punch her in the face, he knew that Karen could and would tell the teacher some bullshit story about he and his brothers attacking her for no reason and could get them into serious trouble and her groupies would vouch for her story, and while he appreciated that his brother had his back, they, like him, had girls they liked (not that they told him who they liked yet, but he could tell due to Jay reading romance comics and Tee now suddenly being into a show called "How to Bag your Babe") and would be upset if they couldn't see them as much just because they were helping their brother.

Tee and Jay looked at their brother with concern, then sat back down as Nate scolded Karen for her rudeness and that if she was going to be like that, he would just help Larie and she could have someone else help her with science. She could also go out to see a new comedy movie with someone else this weekend too, while she was at it. Karen looked as if she had been slapped after he had said that and then began scolding her groupies, who immediately apologized to Larie afterwards. She then hunched down, with a hurt expression and walked, downtrodden, back to her seat, her followers crowding around her to comfort her, while Rachel simply sighed, "You had that coming to you, yes?" she scowled at her foreign friend, but couldn't argue her point.

"Sorry about that, Dude." Nate said, rubbing the back of his head, "She can be kinda nasty sometimes…"

"Sometimes?" Larie replied flatly.

"She has her good sides." Nate said offhandedly as Larie gathered his notebook and math book, "I doubt it." he muttered as the teacher returned and told them to return to their seats so he could go over a few things before their next math test. Which was great, because then he didn't have to get any help from Nate while giving Karen a little taste of karma for her nasty little comment earlier.

Larie _hated_ Karen, he hated her maybe more than he hated Nate (hard to tell). Karen was rude, nasty, and often bullied and threatened his Muffin when she thought no one was looking. And she got away with it cause she was rich, head cheerleader, and apparently many people found her attractive. (Not that he could see what anyone could find attractive about her) And while he didn't like Nate making a move on his lady, at least he didn't slam her against her locker, leaving bruises, or trip her in the hallway while she was carrying lots of papers or books or stuff her belongings into the toilet and causing her to have tearful breakdowns that you could hear through out the school. (He had snatched her make up bag and dumped each individual item into the burnable trash cans around the school for that. He still chuckled whenever he remembered her panicked expression as she raced around the school, trying to gather her things with the note explaining what he did clutched in her hand.)

The only reason she was still breathing was because he didn't want any of her fans/lackeys or her weird foreign friend to witness him mashing her face against her locker until it was nice, quiet, flat and dripping with blood and snot.

He shook his head as he stopped in front of the library doors. Here he was, moments from seeing his beautiful babe, and he was thinking about a witch like Karen. He pushed the bitchy bully out of his mind as he opened the door and breathed in the scent of paper and lemon cleanser (his muffin would often clean the tables before leaving for the day) and smiled when he spotted his dream dame sitting behind the front desk like the sexy librarian she was, reading the bug book she had bought the day before.

This was great! It would be way easier for them to begin discussing bugs when she had a giant book of them right in front of her! And since An and Anny left school without her on Tuesdays and Thursdays due to her library duty, he had her all to himself! He quickly and quietly slipped behind a shelf before she had a chance to see him and carefully smoothed his hair a bit with his fingers and checked his breath before approaching the desk.

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.

.

Jamie watched Larie Kanker smooth his hair and breathe into his cupped hand in an attempt to keep it there long enough for him to smell his breath to check for minty freshness, catching a glance at the silver stud in his tongue as he did so, and brushed off his clothes, readying himself to talk to his crush at the front desk with her nose in a book.

She first spotted him following the Ans after school a few weeks ago, while on her way home from one of her many doctor's appointments, her interest peaking when she noticed how he kept a constant distance between him and the Ans, how he hid in plain sight while managing to act mostly natural to anyone else who wasn't paying to much attention. After a week of tailing him while he tailed the Ans, she managed to figure out that he was actually following Double-N when she went out to get a carton of eggs from the grocery store late one Saturday afternoon without her friends with him following from a safe distance.

Now, he wasn't the only guy around who was sweet on her, Nate seemed to be very fond of her and her crush and best friend, Sam, has had a crush on her for years after she had given them a rare flower because they admired it so much and he got the wrong idea. He still that wrong idea, unfortunately.

It frustrated her to no end; it was obvious that Double-N was _**NOT**_ interested in Sam, not romantically or platonically or in any way, shape or form. And it was equally obvious that Jamie _**WAS**_ interested in Sam, romantically and many other ways. Yet Sam was the only one who couldn't see that. Jamie had tried many ways to help Sam discover that he had a cute, sweet girl who would be pleased as punch to be his girlfriend, but the boy had too be more thick headed than his older sister, and his sister licked a snapping turtle when she was his age. And then after her friends managed to yank it off of her tongue, which had begun to swell, five minutes later she did it again, trying to get the taste out of her mouth, forgetting that it was the turtle that tasted bad in the first place. She did this another four times before Anny flung the turtle into the nearest pond before she and Double-N took the girl to the hospital when they discovered that she was actually somehow allergic to snapping turtles.

Jamie had pondered what to do about Larie for a few days, then she spotted another familiar face following the brainy An (Sam) and started thinking that if Larie and Double-N were to start dating… Well, Sam would have to move on, maybe to a girl with pale, wavy hair and a good fashion sense…

She began gathering data on the boy, seeing if there was any chance that they could become a happy couple that would be too sweet to split. Her results were a mixed bag of yeses, nos and maybes. Meaning that she had no idea if he could manage to get Double-N to fall in love with him by himself, so she decided to offer her aid to him… last week…

She still had not talked to him yet…

Jamie had been determined to talk to him today, but decided to postpone the meeting when she came upon this scene, curious to see what would happen.

She watched in silence as he walked up to the front desk, "Hey, Double-N!" He called, catching the girl off guard and making her bounce in her seat and release her book only to quickly snatch it in mid-air.

She looked up and her face went from shocked, to surprised to an apologetic grin, "My apologies, Larie, I hadn't seen you there. Is there anything I can help you with?"

His face turned pink when she said his name and he seemed overwhelmed with happiness for a moment before he regained his composure and asked her if she could help him find a book on bugs, explaining that he had released a butterfly that had been trapped in the boy's bathroom and was curious to know more about it.

Double-N's face lit up with excitement as he handed her a piece of paper with a butterfly with bright red on the tips of it's wings and began asking questions which she answered with gusto, leading to a conversation about Scarlet Tipped Butterflies then onto other insects and to other things that Jamie tuned out in favor of deciding to chat with him tomorrow and slipping out of the library and towards the exit to meet Sam in the courtyard, deciding to go out through the high school, just because she could.

She walked down the halls towards the exit, only stopping to hear an agitated groaned from a nearby classroom and peaked inside via a small gap between the door and the wall to see Karen, who was surprisingly without her posse of followers at the moment and slumped over a sheet of paper, her fingers threaded to her hair and her cheeks pink as she skimmed over the page.

"Dear Nate." She read, "Please meet me on the roof today during lunch time, I have something to tell you. Always Yours, Karen." She sucked in a breath and quickly shoved the page into an envelope and sealed it with a kiss before pushing out of her seat. Jamie ducked down so she wouldn't be seen as Karen raced past her, Jamie had no idea why she ducked, it just seemed like the right thing to do since she had been sort of kind of spying on her.

Curious, Jamie followed her toward the lockers and found her staring at a locker with shaking hands. "I-I-I can't!" she cried, "I just can't do it!" she threw it into a nearby trashcan and ran out of the school, ashamed. Jamie glanced at the trash can where the abandoned love letter sat for a minute before finding herself pulling her hanky out of her pocket and fishing it out of the empty trashcan. Why she did all that, she had no idea, but she had a feeling that it would come in handy some day and carefully slipped it into her bag as Sam ran up to her, waving to catch her attention.

"Whatcha doing in the high school building, Jamie?" Jamie jumped and turned to face her crush, who was surprised by her reaction to his question. "I was in the library and just felt like going through the high school to meet you." She said, hoping Sam wouldn't become suspicious by her reaction, as technically, she had not lied to him, she _had_ been in the library and she _had_ simply decided to go through the high school to leave. He gave her a funny look then shrugged and said, "Okay then, let's go home."

"Okay!" she sang as the two made their way home, pleased that she could have Sam all to herself for a bit as they walked.

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.

Larie walked home on air with a wide, dopey smile on his face and his phone clutched tightly in his hand. Ann giggled a bit as she watched him leave from the window before going towards the kitchen to start on dinner.

She had felt a little uncomfortable around him before, since he always seemed to look her way then turn away when she noticed him staring, leaving her to wonder if he disliked her or something. After having a long conversation about insects, arachnids and plants, she realized that he was simply interested in them and was unsure to approach her on the subject or not, after all, it was known that she was fine with handling arachnids due to an incident in the girls locker room where she picked up a large spider that had been in Jenny's locker and released it outside, but it was not well known if she was fond of them or not. He probably was trying to think of an insect that would not frighten someone off if they truly were not fond of insects to start a conversation about and see how she reacted when he asked her for help finding a book about the Crimson Tipped Butterfly.

She was pleased to know that her classmate didn't dislike her and was overjoyed that she now had someone to discuss these sort of things with, because while An and Anny were fine with her interests in bugs, spiders, plants and other such things, they themselves were not fond of them and preferred not to discuss them.

They had discussed the butterfly, how she knew it was male simply based on it's coloring, if it was from around here or not, then he asked her about another insect he had seen in a book as a boy with his brothers that she identified as the giraffe weevile. She had just read about that in her new book and eagerly blurted out fact after fact, she told him about why the neck was so long, how the males had longer necks than the females, how it was used to build nests and fight off other males, how the females ready to lay eggs who roll a leaf up, lay one egg in it, cut the part off the roll off and continue until there were no more fertilized eggs to roll, etc, etc. They moved on to a few more insects until they began to talk about plants for a bit. It wasn't until they heard an announcement that the school would now be closed and everyone needed to go home now that they realized that it had gotten so late.

He then offered to take her home, since it was late, which she accepted (since it was getting dark and there was safety in numbers). They began a new conversation about the peach blossom trees through out the school and then discussed the legend at the school about the big peach tree on the top of the hill near the back of the property. Apparently he had heard there was a legend about it, but he didn't know what the legend actually was.

She told him that the legend stated that those who confessed to the one they loved by the tree while the blossoms were falling, that they'd be together forever… then clarified that these confessions often happened during school festivals and other events where the campus was open to the public… Although she had heard rumors about some girls confessing to other girls over the years she had spent at this school, but she never asked the girls themselves for confirmation, not wanting to pry.

Larie seemed to enjoy their conversation so much that he had nearly gone the wrong way a few times and walked into the middle of the street while cars were going by, luckily she gently tugged at his sleeve and led him down the correct path before he went the wrong way and got hit by a car.

When they finally got to her house, she thanked him and then bashfully told him that she enjoyed their conversation and asked if they could talk again.

He then quickly pulled out his phone and nearly dropped it, juggling it in the air for a moment before eagerly asking if they could exchange numbers so they could talk at anytime, or in case he had questions about, well, anything. Ann had been surprised he had asked, but agreed and bit back chuckles as he stumbled over the numbers with his fingers, bashfully explaining to her after the exchange was done that she was the only girl who he had ever exchanged numbers with and apologized if he was coming off as a total dork. She waved off his concern and explained that she was actually just as excited about exchanging numbers with him as he was, since the only other phone number belonging to a male in her cell phone was her father's work number. Thankfully, her words seemed to have made him feel better before she unlocked her front door and thanked him again for walking her home and told him she would see him tomorrow. He smiled widely as he confirmed her last statement and began practically floated home with glee.

Ann smiled as she wrapped the extras she had made and put them in the fridge to become either seconds or part of her lunch before sitting down at the table to enjoy her meal…

Alone…

Again…

She took a bite, it was good, but she had long ago tested her theory that, for her, food often tasted better when eating with others. She decided to remedy her loneliness, pulling her phone out of it's charger for a moment and sent a message to her friends, (since her parents wouldn't be done with their conferences until the end of next week) inviting them to dinner tomorrow night before they made other plans, (and since it was rude of her to assume that her friends had no dinner plans with their families already this evening) smiling when she received two confirmations shortly after sending the message. She exited the messages and stared at her phone for a moment before entering her contacts again. She scrolled down past her friend's contact pages towards the only other three in the phone;

"Father's Office"

"Larie Kanker"

"Mother's Office"

She stared at the newest name in her phone for another moment before blushing and quickly exiting from her contacts before plugging her phone into an outlet to charge. She then sat back down at the dinner table, her face still flushed as she wondered how to address the thought of asking the newest contact in her phone if he wished to join her for dinner some time.

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.

After getting his Muffin's number yesterday, Larie couldn't get the huge, doofy looking grin off his face, and his brothers had obviously noticed.

"You sure are happy this morning, Larie." Jay observed.

"Yeah, what's with you, normally you're like a zombie until we get to class." Tee pointed out.

It was true, the early morning 'meh's were a good way to hide his lack of emotions, allowing him to take a break from constantly putting on a convincing face to match the people around him. Since most people were 'meh' in the mornings anyway, it allowed him to not bother hiding his inability to feel and gave him an excuse to not listen to his brother's chit chat in the mornings by simply letting them assume that he was still half asleep. But instead of telling them that, he shrugged and cheerfully replied that, "I just have a good feeling about today."

"Yeah right, I bet it's a chick." Tee teased.

"Maaayyybe." Larie replied playfully.

"Oh! Oh!" Jay said, pleased that Larie finally wanted in on their talks about beautiful women, "Who is she?"

"Now where's the fun in that?" Larie asked with an impish grin.

"So ya just expect us ta guess." Tee stated a smile curling up his own face as well.

"Yup." He said.

"Hmm, can we have a hint?" Jay inquired, bouncing on his toes as he walked, eager to begin guessing.

"Hmm…" Larie paused, his brothers walked a few steps ahead before stopping and looking back towards him, his smile starting to spread to their faces as he took a few steps forward to rejoin his brothers, "Sure, but ya need ta give me a sec to think of a hint that won't give it away."

"Deal!" Jay exclaimed. Larie rubbed his chin and began to think of a good hint that would leave his brothers guessing. He kept finding it hard to sum his Muffin up in a way that either couldn't fill up a huge book or that wouldn't automatically give it away.

Finally, they got to school and Larie relented his hint, "She's absolutely _perfect_."

His brothers looked at him with expressions that went from surprised to amused, "That's not a hint, Larie." Tee clarified, "That's just your opinion."

"Yeah! If I had to describe the girl I like…" Jay suddenly stopped halfway through his statement, his expression melted into a lovestruck smile as he pointed to the entrance, "The beauty with the glasses over there." He sighed happily.

Larie and Tee looked over to see the Ans walk into the school yard. Now, Larie hadn't really paid much attention to her friends before (mainly cause he was too busy ogling his beloved babe) but he did know which girl his younger brother was talking about...

"Ya mean the red head, An with one N?" Tee asked, making sure he was referring to the correct An. Jay's smile extended and he nodded dreamily.

"Huh, that's weird." Tee murmured thoughtfully as he squinted towards the trio.

"Why?" Jay asked, suddenly defensive and looking ready for a fight if his brothers said something nasty about his dream girl.

"Cause I like big, pink and sassy in the middle, Anny." Tee said with a smile and a chuckle before turning to Larie, "Which one is your type, Larie?"

He smiled and pointed to his gap-toothed cutie while looking triumphantly at his brothers, "Double-N." he said proudly. His brothers smiled at him for a moment before suddenly looking concerned.

"What?" Larie demanded, annoyed by the way his brothers were looking at his Muffin, after all, it wasn't as if his brothers' choices in women were anywhere _close_ to being as good as his.

"Uh, Larie?" Jay said sheepishly as he and Tee silently jabbed their index fingers towards the entrance.

Larie turned and the good mood he had arrived with seemed to vanish as he felt his body begin to burn with a rage that quickly overwhelmed him.

 _ **THAT BASTARD WAS HUGGING HIS MUFFIN!**_

He breathed deeply, trying to calm himself down, but knowing it would do no good, no, Nate had crossed a line that no man but him could and would cross with his beloved Anna Marie;

 _Intimate. Physical. Contact_.

" _ **Nate**_ _ **Van Bartonschmeer, you sonuvabitch**_ …" he snarled through gritted, sharpened teeth, he clenched his fists until they were a bloodless white and his brothers watched his face turn purple with anger, unsure what to do to, since this was the angriest they'd ever seen their brother.

Not that Larie noticed, in fact the only thing on his mind was _killing Nate Van Bartonschmeer_ , and he was not going to rest until he did it.

Because _no man_ ,

 _ **NO MAN**_ _ **COULD TOUCH HER BUT**_ _ **HIM**_ _ **!**_

And Larie was gonna make sure of that.

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Anny was caught completely off guard when Nate came up to Double-N as soon as they passed the school gates and asked her if she could help him set up some sort of tutor group where the students with the best grades helped the students with the worst grades understand the materials better. "Yesterday I was gonna help Larie in math after you left to help Jenny and Karen threw a fit and insulted him cause I said I'd help her and offered to help him to and I feel awful about it." he rubbed the back of his head, "I mean, the guy only wanted some help and Karen blew up at him for no reason. He shouldn't have to get insulted when he's just trying to do well in school, I figure if we got a few of the brightest to tutor the ones who are struggling and have it in the library, where it's quiet and they can focus…"

"Without Karen reading them the riot act?" Anny guessed. Nate gave her a sheepish expression, glanced down at his shoes and nodded. "I know you are in the library committee and are there Tuesdays and Thursdays, do you think you could convince the rest of the committee to let us do it?"

"There are very few members of the library committee, so convincing them won't be too difficult," she explained, giving him their names, "but you'd need to get it approved by the teacher in charge, I can bring you to her during lunch to talk about it if you like."

Nate brightened as he pulled her into a hug, "Thanks Double-N! I'll see you at lunch!"

He then raced off to get approval from the other library committee members, leaving a flushed Double-N, a shocked An, a stunned and angry Karen and Anny chuckling at their reactions. Jenny skipped up to them and gave Double-N a playful slap on the back as she passed, "Woo! You go, Double-N!" she cheered. Double-N rubbed the spot the girl had smacked as Rachel came up from behind the Ans, "Rachel agrees with Head-Like-A-Melon-Jenny girl, you have done well to gain affection from the Striking-Nate boy, Gap-Toothed-An girl!" Rachel complimented as she passed. Sam and Jamie passed the Ans as well, unsure as to what had just happened, but continued on their way with Sam smiling as he snuck a look at a still flustered Double-N, completely unaware that her blushing expression was because Nate had just been hugging her just moments earlier.

Karen stomped over towards the weakest of the trio only for An and Anny to step in front of her, protective, "Move." She snarled.

An growled at Karen like a dog would and bared her teeth at her, warning Karen to back off as Anny challenged her to "Make us." Karen curled her hands into fists and reeled one back, ready to strike, only for the bell to ring and a teacher to call for them all to come in and get to class. Karen scowled at Double-N and hissed that, "This _isn't_ over, Tramp!" before storming away.

"Thank you." The brainy An breathed as her friends parted and the three walked side by side into the school. "No problem!" An cried cheerfully.

"Yeah, Genius, we aren't gonna let that bitch hit ya just cause you got hugged by one of the hottest boys in school."

"He's one of the only five boys in our school, Anny." Double-N pointed out, but began blushing bashfully as she quickly added, "And b-besides, it's not like it really meant anything, I mean, we've known him for years, it was probably just a gesture of gratitude and nothing more."

"Yeah, right!" Anny laughed, "He's totally into you!"

"Like a fish to a barrel!" An agreed, her odd use of a wrong turn of phrase making her friends pause to stare at her a moment before shrugging it off (it was An, after all) and the three of them continued on their way to class, chatting and chuckling as always.

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.

During lunch, Jay and Tee looked at each other, biting their lips and revealing Jay's buck teeth and Tee's blue one as they turned towards their brother's empty chair, he had been so mad outside before the bell rang, first at Nate, who had hugged Double-N in front of everyone, then at Karen, for wanting to hit Double-N because Nate hugged her in front of everyone. But once they were in class, Larie seemed oddly focused on the lesson, his eyes still dark and angry. They figured that he was trying to keep his mind off of it by focusing on something else.

Also, judging by the way he snarled when Nate was asked to go up to the board to solve a problem, his plan wasn't really working.

As soon as lunch time finally rolled around, he watched as Double-N leave the classroom with Nate to talk to a teacher, telling her friends that she'd meet them in the courtyard between the high school building and the middle school building after talking with the teacher. Her friends nodded and they left for the courtyard, with Karen stalking after the other Ans with a scowl on her face that Nate was spending his time with Double-N during lunch today instead eating with her and Rachel and her goons, they got up to go with her, only for her to snap at them to stay put, leaving Rachel and the other girls to be invited to sit with Jenny to eat, which they happily accepted.

Tee and Jay watched as their obviously angry and hurt brother got up from his seat, lunch, untouched and still stuffed in his bag, walked out of the classroom and up the stairs, most likely to sulk on the roof. Leaving his brothers behind in the classroom to eat without him. Needless to say that his behavior was worrying to them and made it hard for them to enjoy their lunches, which they eventually stuffed back into their bags, half eaten, feeling defeated.

"What are we gonna do, Tee?" Jay whispered, "I've never seen Larie _that_ mad _or_ hurt before..."

"We gotta do something, who knows what might happen if that Nate guy makes another move on Double-N?" Tee murmured back, also concerned for his brother's well-being. While Larie was pretty easy going, out of the three of them, he was the most ruthless in a fight. Every time they fought off scumbags to, from and at school, Larie had no issue causing the most pain and doing the most damage to assure that he and his brothers would be left alone in the future, no matter how bloody or graphic these fights could get, his brother showed no emotion, no fear, no anger, no pain and no mercy.

While they had said they picked this school for the babes and how good it would look on a resume or a college application, they actually picked it cause it was the safest school they could get into that was nearby so they wouldn't have to get into fights everyday anymore, they could be normal students who made friends, had fun and maybe even get some sexy girlfriends… But Tee worried that their brother might get into a fight that could ruin his chance with the person who made him happier than Tee had ever seen his blue haired brother be.

"Maybe we should help him get her first?" Jay suggested with a shrug, pulling Tee from his thoughts and making him jump a bit.

"And how would we do that?" Tee snapped, annoyed that his brother had surprised him.

Jay paused, thinking, then brightened and turned to the girls, "Excuse me!" the girls stopped talking and looked over at him, "What did you just say?"

"Oh, I was telling Rachel about mixers." Jenny explained.

"What's a mixer?" Tee asked.

"Oh, it's like a big group date, a group of boys and a group of girls meet up somewhere like a karaoke place or an arcade or an amusement park and people chat with people they're interested in and get to know them better, if they really like the person, they can ask them out on another date or even just straight up become a couple." Jenny elaborated.

"Really?" Jay asked, his eyes widening at the possibilities that this 'mixer' thing offered.

"Yeah!" She said, pulling out her phone and showing them a picture of her smiling with a tall guy with a rectangular head and dirty blonde hair sticking up from it, "See, this is my boyfriend, he goes to another school. I met him at a mixer a few weeks ago." She explained, "You guys should try it, even if you don't find someone to date, you meet tons of cool new people!"

"Yeah, I think we might try it, thanks Jenny!" Jay exclaimed.

Jenny gave them a friendly smile, "No problem, hey, if you need any help with one, I know tons of great places!"

"We might take ya up on that," Tee said with a smile, blue tooth gleaming, pleased that they now knew how to not only help their brother become closer with his An, but how to help him and Jay get closer to theirs.

"Yeah, it's pretty easy, ya just gotta ask some girls if they wanna do a mixer with ya and if they say yes, then ya can go from there!" Jenny said, her phone buzzed and the photo of her and her bo popped up, "Oh, sorry, guys, that's him, gotta go!" she left the two Kankers and Rachel at her desk while she slipped into the hall.

"Wait, we have to ask them if they want to join us for a mixer?" Jay squeaked, "Like, _in person_?"

"The Daughter of a Shepherd believes that is what she meant." Rachel confirmed before stuffing a sausage into her mouth.

Jay and Tee looked at one another, while they liked An and Anny, An and Jays' conversations were never much more than him calling out, 'Hi An!' and her replying 'Hi Jay!' every time they saw each other outside of class, when they were both at video game club, they would geek out about random things, but asking her out, yeah no, he didn't think he could do that without tripping or falling over. And Tee would tease Anny until she was so frustrated and annoyed that she'd storm off, he had no idea why he kept riling her up, but she was just so damn feisty that he couldn't help it. They sometimes would make comments that would make the other laugh and build on each other's jokes, but those instances weren't as often as he'd like. A sudden invitation to a mixer from him might not be taken as intended with their current relationship.

"Why are you two looking like you have just sat on one of the pies of mud?" Rachel asked.

"Because we are so _screwed_ if we try to ask the Ans to go to a mixer with us." Tee replied.

"How would you know you are twisted into the wood if you have not even tried to talk to the An girls about this 'mixing' thing yet?" Rachel asked, obviously confused by their reaction. The brothers looked at one another and put on faces willed with determination, she was right, they were giving up too soon. They had to try, if not for their own sakes, for their brother's. "Thanks for snapping us out of it, Rachel." Jay said as they got up to head to the courtyard. "Snap you out of what, Teeth-like-a-Flat-Tailed-Rodent-Kanker Boy?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, we can't just leave Larie hanging." Tee agreed.

"Rachel still does not understand..." she began, only for the brothers to rush out of the classroom and down the hall, leaving Rachel sitting at her desk with her lunch and Karen's goons. She turned to her classmates, a befuddled expression on her face as she explained that, "The Daughter of a Shepherd is still confused, yes?"

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.

Larie leaned against the railing on the roof, his arms folded on the top of the railing and his head resting on them like a chick in it's nest. He was still furious about the shit Nate pulled, but if he was gonna kill him, he needed to carefully construct a plan, after all, him killing Nate would do him no good if he got arrested for his murder, and his Muffin would probably never return his affections if she learned that he killed someone.

Therefore, he needed a good plan and a scapegoat to pin the murder on.

He already had a person in mind to frame for his crime, Karen, since it was obvious that she liked Nate and, well, she blew up just because Nate offered to help another guy study and tortured other girls for fun, he doubted many people would have trouble believing that Karen was capable of murder.

He suddenly heard the door to the roof open and turned, thinking it was his brothers coming to see if he was okay. He sighed, while he appreciated the gesture, he was trying to plot a murder here, he didn't want his brothers involved. He decided to stay as he was and to wait for them to come to him, if they did, he'd tell them he just needed to calm down and nicely ask for them to leave him be.

He felt a gentle tug on the back of his sleeve, which was odd, since his brothers would most likely call out to him to gain his attention before making physical contact when he was obviously angry and upset. He turned to see a small, pale, frail looking girl looking up at him. She was in middle school judging by the color of her skirt and the neckline of her uniform. He briefly wondered how she got up to the high school roof before figuring that she had simply walked across the library to get onto the roof of the high school building. The middle and high school were connected by the library that was set farther back on the buildings and one could walk from one school to another simply by using the library's roof like a bridge between them and going downstairs. But as to what she was doing up here staring at him and tugging at his sleeve, he had no clue.

Nor did he care, he didn't have time to deal with this kid, he was planning a freaking murder here!

"Uh, you're Larie Kanker, right?" She asked, her voice so high and squeaky that it almost surprised him more than the fact that she knew his name.

Why would she… _oh_... oh no, _please_ don't let this little girl confess to him! It was bad enough he had to deal with Nate hitting on his girl and Karen picking on his girl, but how could he kill Nate and frame Karen with a little girl following him around, pining for him?

"What's it to ya?" he snarled, hoping that if he scared her off, that she'd leave him be to contemplate his murder plot in peace.

"I know you've been following Double-N a lot." She said, her face pulled into a devious grin as she took a few steps back and began moving her arms around as she explained that, "I've seen you do it a couple of times now, you follow her to her house, you follow her to the store…" she said, a dark twinkle in her eye as she went on to say that, "I wonder how Double-N would feel if she knew the boy who she had such a nice chat about butterflies with yesterday follows her home everyday after school?" she asked, covering her mouth as she let out a little chuckle.

Larie felt alarm spike through him at the fact that he had been caught spying on his Muffin before anger overwhelmed it. Not only had this little _bitch_ followed him around and spied on him while he was watching out for his Muffin, but now was this brat trying to blackmail him or something with that knowledge?

" _So_?" he challenged with a growl as he moved away from the railing and closed the distance between him and the frail child with anger coming off of him in powerful waves. Soon he was towering over her with a face like a wrathful demon, " _You trying to blackmail me or something_?" he asked, his deep voice filled with a venom that seemed to strip the confidence and color out of the girl's face as he spoke, " _Cause I promise ya, kid, you get in my way, I'll-_ "

But before he could finish his threat, the girl fell to her knees, her eyes pleading and swimming with tears as she held her hands up as if using them as a feeble defense against his wrath, "PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" she begged, "I ONLY WANTED TO OFFER MY HELP IN GETTING DOUBLE-N TO GO OUT WITH YOU!" she cried before large tears began sliding down her face and she allowed her upper body to collapse on top of her knees. Larie looked at her, confused and unsympathetic, "Help me?" he echoed, "Why?"

The girl wiped at her face and sniffled as she calmed her self down, Larie scowling as he waited for her to stop hiccupping and speak, knowing that him snapping at her to suck it up would only make it take longer for her to calm down. When she _did_ finally calm down a bit, she explained that, "The boy I have a crush on has a crush on Double-N too."

Larie's blood boiled, first Nate, now this girl's crush? How many guys would he have to kill before people got that she belonged to _him_ and _him alone_ and _backed off his_

 _Muffin?!_

"And I figured that since you want Double-N to yourself and I want my crush to get the picture that she doesn't like him like that, that I could help you become her boyfriend..."

It was quiet for a moment as he contemplated her words. While he had to admit, having someone help out would be great, because then not only would his plan to murder Nate probably go much more smoothly, but that it would probably give him more time with others or in plain sight and getting a good alibi that would keep the cops off his back and onto Karen's. But on the other hand, how did he know he could trust her? After all, he didn't know this girl from a hole in the wall, for all he knew, she was setting him up for failure so Nate could have his beloved Muffin.

"And why me and not Nate?" Larie asked, making no effort to hide that he was suspicious of her offer. The girl opened her mouth, paused than tried again, "My crush and Nate have known each other for a long time, Nate is nice to him and he knows that Nate would never raise a hand to him. But he doesn't know _you_. For all he knows, you'd kill him if he even _thought_ of making a move on Double-N." she finally said.

'He wouldn't be the first guy to make me wanna kill him today…' Larie thought as she went on to say that, "To my crush, you're a dangerous, tough looking unknown that stands between him and Double-N, that might get him to finally give up on her and come to me." Once she finished her statement, they were both silent for a moment before Larie asked, "That's it?"

"That's it." she replied. Larie stood there for a moment, his mind reeling as a perfect plan to kill Nate and frame Karen finally began fitting together like a puzzle in his mind, all he had to do now was get this girl, who obviously came here with a plan of her own, to agree to do everything he told her to and do it without question. He hid his dark glee behind a straight face and opened his mouth. "Good, 'cause there's a few flaws in yer plans there, girly." He said plainly, clearly insulting her. "One." He said, holding up a finger, "I may look tough, like ya said, I may _be_ tough, like ya said, but I haven't exactly _proved_ that I'm dangerous at this school. For all yer little boyfriend knows, I'm as tough as tissue paper." The girl paused, pensive as he held up a second finger, "Two, even if I _could_ prove how dangerous I am, how would I do that in a way that would not get me into trouble or scare my Muffin off?" The girl gave him a funny look at the nickname for his beloved for a second before her upper lip pushed down on her lower lip, changing her expression to a thoughtful pout as Larie held up a third finger, "And even _if_ I prove to this kid that I'm dangerous, what if she ends up going out with Nate, I mean, as much as I hate ta say it…" he took a deep breath to keep himself from punching the nearest wall across the rooftop before bitterly admitting that, "he _is_ pretty popular with the girls in class." The girl began rubbing her temples with her eyes clamped shut as Larie than listed off a few more things for her to consider, counting them off his fingers as he spoke. "Then how am I supposed to keep him from saying anything about my tough guy act to Double-N? How are ya gonna make it look like you ain't helping me? How am I supposed to keep both your crush and Nate away from Double-N without getting into trouble or getting caught doin' that? And do you really think that this guy you like will really back off Double-N just cause she gets a tough boyfriend?"

"Okay! Okay!" she cried, her fingers still on her temples as she frowned at him, "What's _your_ plan then, smart guy?"

He smirked, "You just leave everything ta me, wouldn't want ya ta get into trouble and rat me out. I just need you to do what I tell ya and keep your trap shut about what we did, Deal?" he asked, holding out his hand.

The pale girl hesitated, which was understandable, after all, who knows what she could be asked to do? "Only if I get to name some conditions as to what I'll do."

Larie leaned his head back, a smirk on his face. It wasn't as if he couldn't see this coming, but he still found it amusing that this kid decided she was gonna set some limitations when he really wasn't gonna have her do anything illegal or gross and was going to tell her that. But, what the hell, she was helping him for a chance with a boy who might go after another girl after his Muffin was off the market, he might as well let her set a few terms herself and feel better than to try and explain that he wasn't going to have anything too bad for her to do, so he stuffed the hand he offered her into his back pocket and motioned for her to speak with his free hand.

"First, I'm not doing anything violent or sexual." She said, holding up her own fingers as she spoke. "Two, I will not do anything that involves breaking the law. And Three, if you do anything to my crush, than the deal is off and I rat you out!"

"I'd need to know who yer crush is ta do that." Larie pointed out, giving himself some time to establish if these conditions would fuck up his plans or not before she would tell him the boy's name. The girl scowled at him, then her face softened into an annoyed pout, "Sam." She said stiffly, "An with one N's little brother." She then looked at him with cold eyes and snapped, "So do we have a deal or what?"

Larie nearly rose his eyebrows at this information, but managed to keep his new emotions behind a neutral poker face (again, he had years of practice at faking emotions and lacking emotion so it wasn't hard).

He knew about Sam, but what he knew was that the kid was known for yelling and not as well known for smacking his sister around from some kids from the elementary school near his old middle school, and he had heard that when they were younger that the boy had no problem swinging at her friends too. Larie had put the kid on a very short 'eliminate at first sign of violence towards my Muffin' list but he'd only really see the kid threaten his sister, and while that wasn't good either, at least his Muffin wasn't at the other end of that savage bastard's fist.

He looked at the thin, feeble girl in front of him, taking in her admission of admiration towards the violent child. He could understand while she liked that kid; they both were nasty, selfish little brats who would obviously go to any lengths to get their way. But, having a little innocent-looking helper would allow him to get rid of Nate and frame Karen without having any loose ends leftover to deal with that could possibly get him caught, and if An's brother really began giving him and his beloved a hard time, he could simply tell Jay all the rumors he'd heard about Sam beating his sister for no reason and let his younger brother handle it. Allowing the little shit to get what was coming to him without dirtying his own hands and giving her an excuse to rat him out to the cops.

He took her hand and shook it, "Deal." The two letting go as soon as the shake was over, he wiped his on the back of his pants while she used her handkerchief.

"So, what will I need to do?" She asked, still rubbing her hands with the hanky. Larie smiled as he opened his mouth and began giving her instructions on what needed to be done today and on Monday.

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An rubbed her arm as she made her way to video game club after school, it was still sore from when baby brother punched her for trying to wrap up his owies after he tripped during lunch time. After inspecting it in the bathroom, she discovered that it had gone from red to a dark purple and pushed her sleeve over it to hide it, just like all the other bruises she had hid over the years. Why did he always have to hurt her when all she wanted to do was help him or play with him or get along with him? Did he hate her? Why?

All she ever did was love her baby brother and all she ever got in return was pain, being shouted at and him telling her parents that she had done something she really didn't do and making them think she was a nasty, evil person when she truly wasn't.

She felt her eyes water and her lip quiver, all she wanted was her brother to be nice to her, to show her a small amount of kindness that she had showered him with since the moment he was born. She leaned against the wall outside the club room and held herself as she began to cry, wishing she could have gone home with Anny and Double-N today like she normally did when she felt this sad, but she hadn't. No, she knew that if she cried to them about this, her friends would do what they always did, Anny would offer to threaten her brother into being nice by using years of photo and video evidence she and Double-N had been gathering for years or making him risk being sent to a reform school or maybe having the steps to _his_ room being taken away for once. And Double-N would offer her and Anny's moral support while showing the evidence they gathered to the police and get Sam either taken to an anger management program or juvie (which Anny was personally hoping he'd get instead of anger management).

But An couldn't do that to her brother, she had promised when he was a baby to always care for him and love him and be the best big sister she could be, if she got him sent off somewhere where he could get hurt, she'd certainly break that promise.

But his punches, kicks and words hurt her more than she ever let on. And today's new bruise continued to throb painfully as she cried, she just wanted the punches, the kicks, the scratching, the biting, the shouting, the lying, the threats… she wanted them all to stop, but the only way to do that was to let her brother get hurt. Was freeing her from the physical and psychological pain worth the pain of seeing her brother miserable and knowing that she had failed him?

"An?" she heard a familiar voice call, sounding concerned, she glanced up to see the boy who sat behind her in class and who was a fellow member of the video game club, "Jay?" she sniffled.

Upon seeing her tear-streaked face, he immediately bent down to her level and gently grasped her shoulders with his hands as he blurted, "Are you okay? Why are you crying? Are you hurt?" An was surprised that he had asked, because they hardly spoke much to each other outside the video game club room and when they were in the club room, they mainly talked about comics and cartoons and video games. They never talked about their lives outside that room, which An actually liked, she could pretend, at least for a little while, that her problems at home weren't there, that she was a normal girl with a normal life.

But she wasn't. Even forgetting her brother beating her and her parents not believing her and thinking she was a nasty, ungrateful person, An was abnormally strong, she always had been, and she always had to be careful with her strength, or else she'd crush her best friends like one would crush an empty soda can every time she gave them a hug. And that would be horrible because An was a hugger.

After all this time seeming like a normal girl, he could finally see how she was outside the safety of the club room and without her friends to comfort and protect her. An lowered her head and tried to quickly regain her composure, Jay was a nice boy, but she had heard from Anny that he and his brothers had been in a school full of gangsters before coming to Peach Creek Academy, so she knew that he was tough. And she also had a feeling that if he found out that her baby brother hit her, he'd probably pound the stuffing out of him to teach him a lesson.

Only when she bent her head down, Jay lowered himself on the floor more and moved his hand onto the bruise, she lifted her head, her teeth sinking into her lip to bite back a cry of pain as more tears began to surface, Jay quickly withdrew his hands and cried, "I'm so sorry! Did I touch where it hurt?"

An nodded, tears streaming down her face. Jay quickly got back up onto his feet and offered his hand, "come on, An, if it's hurtin' that badly, we should get you to the nurse!" She hesitated for a moment, unsure if she should let the nurse see the bruise in case the nurse asked if she had any other bruises or marks. But looking at Jay's face, she saw an emotion she hadn't seen on a male's face since, well, forever;

Concern.

She finally held her hand up to him and he gently pulled her up onto her feet, "What happened, An? Ya trip or somethin'?" he asked as he escorted her to the nurse. After another moment of hesitation, she slowly nodded. And even though she wasn't the sharpest tool in the toaster, she could tell that he didn't believe her claim, but instead of calling her out on it or to tell her to stop covering her brother's abusive ass like her friends, he simply asked for her phone, typed in a number and handed it back as he said, "Next time you have a feelin' that yer gonna 'trip', call me, I'll make sure ta catch ya, okay?" An paused, looking up at him, a little uncomfortable asking, but, she had to ask, "Promise?"

He smiled warmly at her and held out his pinky, "Pinky Swear." He promised. After a moment of hesitation, she gently hooked her pinky with his and nodded, grateful that Jay was being so nice to her as he delivered her to the nurse.

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After school, Jamie walked home, Larie's instructions to her bouncing around her head, still just as confusing as they had been when he had first given them to her.

First thing she needed to do was plant a love letter in Nate's locker from Karen. When she asked why a note from Karen, a flash of rage shined in his eyes before he said that since Karen seemed to enjoy making people around her miserable, he'd return the favor and get her expelled. When Jamie opened her mouth to protest, since, even though Karen wasn't a very nice person, that she shouldn't get into trouble for something she didn't do, she heard Sam yelp from the courtyard and she dashed to the side to look over the railing to see Karen cackling over Sam. His lunch was all over the ground in front of him and him on his hands and knees, her foot still sticking out from where she tripped him, she called him a clumsy dork and kept laughing until an Angry An pushed her away from her precious baby brother, lifted him up bridal style and ran to the infirmary while he insisted through tears that she 'PUT ME DOWN, STUPID!' her friends right behind her to make sure she didn't turn her brother into a mummy with the bandages and get smacked for it. _Again._

Jamie gripped the rail tightly with anger as Larie walked next to her and leaned against the railing, a knowing grin on his face as he spoke in a light tone that, "If you know of a nastier bitch who deserves it more than her, I'd be happy to…"

"You said have the letter in his locker by lunch time?" she asked sweetly, her whole body shaking with anger. Larie smiled and confirmed her question before telling her to have the meeting time be during lunch (which was the time Karen wrote in her original letter, so Jamie would just stuff the letter she salvaged from the trash can into Nate's locker) before moving on to the next thing he'd need from her.

The second thing was for her either join the drama club that day or at least give herself a reason to be there without anyone questioning it and leave a pair of their cotton gloves out for him on Monday and snag a long haired red wig and a pink hat on Monday morning, the third thing was to put a bucket next to the sink on the roof, stuff the hat and wig inside it and leave it up there, upside down to hide the wig and hat and to sneak out of the class she had after lunch, put on the red wig and a pink hat and pour water on one of the guys wearing their gym uniforms and then book it back to class before anyone got a good look at her.

Jamie didn't understand why she had to do that, but Larie assured her that it was crucial for the plan's success. Jamie pondered the pieces of his plan that he had given her, all she could see was Larie setting him up to go onto the roof alone with some spare clothes thinking that some girl with red hair, assumingly Karen was up there and poured water on some guy for some reason.

That was it, that was all she got from that plan, now, the pieces she had made no sense to her and she had no idea how that would help keep Sam away from Double-N or anything, but she had a bad feeling in her gut about whatever was going to happen on Monday.

She shoved the feeling into the back of her mind, this was all to get Sam to herself. And if Larie had to do a bunch of really bad things with her help to do them, well, then so be it. The guy was sharper than he seemed, he probably would have found a way to do whatever it was she was going to help him with on Monday by himself or finding an unsuspecting someone to unknowingly aid him anyway, so it wouldn't really matter what happened or that she was a part of it. Whatever this was, it would be a means to her happy ending, and if Larie went too far she could simply tell the cops that he threatened her and forced her to help him, maybe even throw in some fake tears to help sell it a little better. She smiled as she spotted Sam up ahead and called for him, making him pause and wait for her to reach him.

"Where were you at lunch today?" he asked her, "I was waiting for ya outside and you never showed, didn't yer mom bring your lunch to school?"

Jamie quickly processed his words and recalled that, to keep Sam from figuring out what she was up to, she lied about forgetting her lunch at home and telling him that she would call her mother and meet him at their usual place for lunch, but she couldn't pretend that she hadn't eaten, whenever she skipped lunch, her tummy rumbled all the way home and she had quickly shoveled her food into her mouth before lunch ended before running around the school with an empty lunch box and eventually back to the classroom, asking if anyone had seen him, so her lie would stick. So she quickly began improvising; "I was calling my house from the roof to see if anyone could bring it here for me, only for my mommy to tell me that she remembered me putting it in my bag before putting my books on top of it instead of next to it like I usually do." She continued, using the fact that while you could text and access the internet on your phone in the school building by using the school's wifi, you could only really get good reception fro calls by the big peach tree on the hill, the baseball field, and the middle and high school building rooftops. "By the time I got it, I didn't see you outside so I looked all over for you, but didn't find you until I got back to the classroom." She finished, using her knowledge that he had been brought to the infirmary room in the _high school_ building instead of the one in the middle school building to finish off her perfectly polished lie.

Sam flushed guiltily and finally huffed out a sigh, "Yeah, you musta missed me after Karen tripped me and An dragged me all the way to the high school infirmary room even though the middle school one is practically one room over from the entrance to the courtyard." Jamie looked at him, concerned and upset, "That was mean of her, why would she do that?"

"Beats me." Sam said with a shrug, "You know Karen, when she's mad at someone, either she makes them suffer or she takes it out on someone else. Guess I was just the nearest target." He concluded.

Jamie nearly stopped in her tracks as something clicked in her mind. 'when she's mad at someone either she makes them suffer or takes it out on someone else.' Jamie now knew that whatever Larie was planning involved hurting Nate and blaming Karen for it. Should she stop him? Should she tell someone her suspicions? Should she just _not_ do what he had asked her to?

At her silence, Sam decided that they needed a new topic or else the walk home would be unbearably quiet, "So why'd ya join the drama club? I thought you loved the handicraft club more than life itself." He asked, holding out a hand to her as if expecting her to place a piece of paper with the answer in his hand, allowing her to see his palm covered in band-aids and recalling the happy look on Karen's face when she took out her anger on her sweet, innocent and naïve Sam.

"Oh, I didn't join the drama club only volunteered to help the drama club make some costumes for a play they're doing for the school festival." Jamie assured him with a wave of her hand, again, it wasn't a total lie, except that she volunteered to help the _High School_ drama club, not the middle school one. And when they thanked her for her offer and turned her down, she then sweetly reminded them about how last year, the student that was now their club president had gotten drunk and done several horrible things in both schools the week before the festival, ruining many girls' hard work as well as making everyone scramble to fix everything and that it would be awful if anyone found out and the club was disbanded for it. After that, they changed their tunes and thanked her profusely for assisting them.

"Isn't that two months away?" Sam pointed out.

"Yes, but most people ask the handicrafts clubs to help them make costumes for their classes and clubs and leaves us practically no time to make anything to show for our little shop each year, so I suggested to the club president that we make a bunch of extra costumes for the drama club that the other students can use for the festival so we can have more time to focus on our cute little shop this year!" she explained cheerfully. Sam smiled at her, "At least you all are doing something fun. The Captain said we should just focus on helping our classes this year instead of trying to think up something for us to do as a team."

"But that's such a waste!" Jamie cried.

"Yeah, but apparently last year, someone messed up all the work everyone did the week before the festival and they barely were able to fix everything in time. So the Captain thinks that we should each focus on only one booth just in case it happens again."

"But there are so many simple, fun things you all could do that would be easy to prepare!" Jamie insisted before babbling on about all the things Sam and the baseball team could do for the school festival, Sam smiling and nodding as she spoke, making her heart soar.

At that moment, she decided that no matter what she had to do, as long as she got her man, it would be worth it.

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That night, the Ans decided to extend their dinner plans at Double-N's house into the weekend.

Anny made this declaration for several reasons, but most of them were out of concern for her friends.

Why she was concerned about An was obvious, today Sam had punched his older sister in the arm for beginning to meticulously and very slowly stick the band aids on his palms and knees one at a time, Anny had slammed the runt against the wall and told him if he did that again she'd toss him out the damn window while Ann began inspecting the swelling red fist imprint in their friend's arm in case the boy broke her arm. Again.

After they had stopped him and took pictures of her injury for evidence and he angrily slunked away to class. Anny scowled at the little shit as he did before exchanging concerned glances with Double-N, they feared the same thing: that Sam might take his frustration out on their simple friend later when they weren't around to protect her. And Anny and Double were now utterly, definitely and absolutely completely _done_ hearing An plead with them to not tell on him and how 'it didn't hurt' and how 'he didn't mean it.' She moved it with a wince all day, but insisted she was fine. Her friends knew that she was lying, and she wouldn't let them take her to the nurse or rat the brat out, so they told her to tell them if it still hurt later.

Both of them had kept their mouths shut about the little shit's hittin' and kickin' her (although they loathed every second of it), but today was the last damn straw.

Jay Kanker had brought An to Double-N's house, informing her that the nurse said that she should go to the hospital to get her arm checked out but she instead had pleaded that he bring her here instead.

Double-N had him bring her inside and thanked Jay for bringing her to her before calling Anny and getting everything the nurse had told Jay down on paper before the girls assured him that they would make sure An would be alright before he finally left, giving her a kind smile before leaving.

Sam's punch had made a small crack in the bone, luckily, it never took An long to recover from an injury. As long as she didn't do any heavy lifting or move it much and they gave her pain medicine and lots of care, she would be fine.

But the two young women were no longer going to let Sam get away with hurting their sweet best friend. The next time that boy laid a finger on their friend, they were taking all the evidence they had collected over the years and taking it straight to the police.

After wrapping up her arm, giving her medicine wrapped up in a pudding skin and pulled up one of her favorite movies on Netflix. They compiled every video they had been recording when he stomped in and began beating the snot out of An, photos of every injury that jerk ever gave her, and typed accounts of the various incidents of abuse they witnessed and set up an special email that, unless given a password by a certain time everyday, would be sent to the police so the next time he tried to take a swing at her, he'd have years worth of horrible deeds to explain to the police.

Now, while they just wanted to just send it and be done with it, An would be upset if her brother was taken in because of her, and she probably wouldn't testify against him, so he would be right back in the house with her to hurt her worse than before, and maybe even attack them for getting him into trouble, so they decided to put it into an e-mail, the moment Sam laid a finger on their sweet An, he would be shipped off to a horrible place where he would learn that Karma could be a venomous bitch.

After they had set it up they realized that it was best to kept her with them, just in case they had done it incorrectly and the police came to her home and Sam decided to make her pay for reporting him to the cops. But much to the two girls' secret dismay, the police did not grace An's family's doorstep all weekend.

The other reason the three of them spent all that time at Double-N's place was because not only was she all alone with her parents gone on business and was probably really lonely, but that Karen was crazy pissed at her for Nate hugging her Friday morning, and Anny and An both doubted that tripping Sam at lunch had completely calmed her down. And since Karen lived nearby, it would be easy for the bully to break in and beat the snot out of Double-N at the first chance she got and they weren't gonna have that either.

But while Anny and her friends ultimately stuck together all weekend to protect one another, they still had plenty of fun spending time with each other and ultimately Anny was grateful that her friends were out of harm's way while teasing Double-N about her time with Nate on Friday and how An now had Jay Kanker acting like her knight in shining armor. Both of her friends stammered out replies of the two boys being 'just friends' but Anny was quick to call them out on _that_ bullshit before they changed the topic, blushing and not making eye contact as they did so.

And while Anny was pleased that her friends had suitors, she couldn't help but feel a little envious of them. It was as if they were all in a fairy tale and their stories were already getting good while hers hadn't even started yet.

She shoved the thought into the back of her mind and went back to enjoying the weekend long sleepover with her friends. Although, despite her best efforts, the question of when she was gonna have some guy all over her kept popping up in her mind all weekend.

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It was finally Monday.

Larie had been painfully waiting for this all weekend long, it might have been easier for him to have endured this weekend if his Muffin hadn't holed herself up in her house with her friends for a weekend long sleepover.

He hadn't seen her in two days, TWO FUCKING DAYS! That was like an eternity to him! He had found a bunch of excuses to leave the house to try and see her, only to find that she had holed up in her house all weekend with most of the blinds closed. After two days with no Anna Marie in sight, he had started to go through Muffin withdraw, making him depressed.

His brothers easily figured out that his odd behavior was caused by his affection for Double-N, but figured that their brother was simply depressed at the fact that his crush was also being pursued by the most popular guy in Peach Creek and unsure if he would stand a chance against him and was using all the errands he had offered to do as excuses to walk around and think, often forgetting to do the errands he had set out to do in the first plaxe.

That drove his brothers to go through everything they knew about the Ans via rumors, overheard conversations and with help from Jenny, who Tee asked for any help she could give them while Jay went off to Video Game Club and Larie went home ahead of him (Ann's house to see if he could get a nice view of his gal before the weekend started) before she left to meet her boyfriend for karaoke. She had given them a ton of help and insight before they finally decided to ask either An or Anny if they and their friends wanted to go on a mixer with them to an Amusement Park that upcoming weekend. Jenny told them about a nice one nearby that wasn't too expensive but very safe and fun that also had plenty of activities for couples.

Now all they had to do was ask 'um.

"We're doomed." Tee murmured as he and his youngest brother both let their heads fall onto the kitchen table, their blue haired brother dragging himself into the room, grabbing a ketchup bottle out of the fridge and slouching on the couch while pouring it into his mouth, not caring if he missed… (Which he did.)

But now that it was Monday, Larie was in better spirits. He was gonna see his Muffin today! And he was gonna make sure that Nate never got between them ever again! It was sure to be a swell day!

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After a long weekend without his annoying idiot of an older sister around, Sam groaned when he realized that after school that she was probably gonna come back home again. Oh well, at least he could see Double-N again, because unfortunately, while his sister not being home was great cause he didn't have to deal with her, it also meant that Double-N didn't come over to see his sister which sucked for him.

He walked with Jamie to school and noticed that she seemed a bit… preoccupied as they made their way to school and he told her about his An-free weekend. After a few minutes of frustrating silence, he tapped her shoulder and loudly asked if she was listening to him. She apologized sheepishly with a rub of the spot he had touched and explained that she had realized that she forgotten something in the high school drama club room on Friday and needed to go get it and told him to head to class without her this morning.

It was odd, but he nodded, and once they arrived at school, he waved at her as they separated to walk into the different schools. He quickly rushed into the closest room and looked out the window to see her disappear into the high school building, he didn't know _why_ , but Jamie had been acting odd lately, and whatever the reason, he had a feeling that it wasn't good.

She had been sort of off since Friday when they missed each other at lunch. And what was with her offering to help the _high school_ drama club with their costumes instead of the _middle school_ one? Their drama club's room was right next to the handicraft club's room, wouldn't it make more sense to offer them help instead of the high school one since they were closer by and she could take the costumes next door if they were in need of repair? And why would the older drama kids agree to let her work on their costumes? Wouldn't they go to the older handicrafts club students since they were more experienced?

Something didn't add up to Sam, and he was gonna get to the bottom of it.

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Larie walked by the drama room after telling his brothers to go to the classroom without him, when they gave him a funny look, he scowled and hissed, " _I havta take a dump!_ " After that, his brothers left him be.

He glanced inside the room and found a pair of white cotton gloves on a small table near the entrance and quickly pocketed them before running towards the small, one stall boy's bathroom and taking that dump before class.

On his way back to class, he smiled as he looked down at his class's schedule and saw that his class would be cooking that morning, so not only would he get to watch his Muffin make a meal like the perfect future wife he knew she would be and get watch her walk around in an apron and imagine how she'd look if she was only wearing the apron and nothing else, but he could get _exactly_ what he needed to put the nail in both Nate and Karen's coffins.

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Karen made a face as she reached back into the jar filled with little wieners, the gross meat juice feeling slimy on her fingers, "Ewwwwww!" she whined, wishing she could just skip this class like she usually did, but knew that if she got caught skipping this class again, her mom would be super pissed and that meant no shopping trips for a month.

So she stood there fishing around for a little hot dog with her fingertips, wondering why they even had this stupid class. You could pick up something to eat everywhere, so it wasn't as if they needed to learn to avoid starving or anything, and today's assignment was to 'cook your best dish and have fun! ' according to the blackboard, since the teacher was absent. What would they even learn from that? Huh? How could they learn how to do something when they're just making stuff they already know how to make?! AND WHERE THE HECK WAS THEIR TEACHER!?

She decided to stop thinking about why this class was stupid and focus on her task… until she got frustrated just staring at her fingers swirl in the jar for a stupid mini sausage, so she decided to look around and see what everyone else was doing.

Her minions were making different types of cookies, Rachel was smashing a huge sausage, several meatballs and… something that looked like a pickle into a fish, Jenny was cooking some white squishy block thing on a pan, Nate was chopping up vegetables for a salad, the Kankers were all making meatloaf for some reason, Double-N was filling an empty pie crust with cooked and chopped chicken, potatoes and vegetables in some sort of gravy, Anny was making an omelet in one pan and frying up some bacon in another and An was making various things from the freezer into a giant ant.

After seeing all of that, she suddenly was unsure if she would get away with simply cutting up some mini wieners so they looked like octopuses and plopping them onto a plate like she had been doing. Maybe she could put some of that parsley crap on the plate to make it fancy? She glanced over towards a few sprigs of green leaves on Nate's table, wondering if it was parsley or lettuce, then wondering what parsley even really looked like when she finally felt her fingers touch a little wiener in the jar and she smiled, "Gotcha!" she cried, pinching it and beginning to pull it out only to get stuck, "AGAIN!?" she shouted, annoyed, making the others in the classroom wince as she knocked into the handle of the knife she had been using and sending it spinning on the edge of the counter, ready to slash any who needed to use the oven as they passed and began tugging at her arm to free her hand from the jar.

"Watch it!" Larie snapped as he dodged her free arm when it suddenly flew out towards him, her elbow bend and shooting towards his chest just above where he held his hot-from-the-oven meatloaf with oven mitts he had found in a drawer and jerked away from the knife that spun on the counter top beside her.

"You watch it, meathead!" she shouted as she kept trying to yank her fist out of the jar, bumping into Anny and making her flip a hot eggy mess onto the floor and making her pan filled with bacon clatter to the floor, hot bacon grease sliding off the pan and leaking onto the floor, "Hey!" Anny snapped, "Watch where yer going, witch! You made me waste perfectly good bacon!"

"Fuck… off… Pig!" she cried, giving her arm a tug with each word.

"Um, Karen, if I may suggest something…" Double-N began.

"How about I suggest you shut that big mouth of yours and mind your own business?" she hissed bitterly, not noticing that Larie scowling at her menacingly as she bumped into An's table and made the ant's head fall off just as she had gotten it to stick, An looked at her ruined creation, heartbroken as she fell to her knees, "THE ANT KINGDOM OF PLANET CRUMULON HAS LOST IT'S QUEEN! NOW WHO SHALL LEAD THEM TO THE PROMISED LAND OF BAKED GOODS AND CHEESE!?" she sobbed before curling up into a ball on the floor and crying at the loss of the Ant Queen. Jay then shoved his own meatloaf into the oven before racing over to comfort her along with her friends, who abandoned their food and mess respectively to assure her that they could fix her ant and tried to get her to stop crying.

Karen slipped backwards on the bacon grease while taking a step back to see if she had anything she could use to make her hand slippery and get it out and knocked over a few of her posse so they fell on top of each other in a heap and crushed their cookies under them or watched as they crashed on the floor. She somehow managed to stay upright while the girls cried out as they knocked into each other like dominos and fell over, their cookies now ruined, although the bottoms of her shoes were now greasy. She tried to make her way to the little rug near the sink and nearly fell onto her face, making her have to wave her arms and smacking the jar into the bottom of Jenny's pan, making her fried tofu fly into the air and onto Tee's meatloaf when he was about to put it into the oven. He groaned as Jenny walked over to sadly look at both of their ruined dishes as the fried tofu sunk into the meat loaf. "Dammit," Tee growled, "Why couldn't she just skip like usual and save us all from her stupid shit?"

"Cause then we could actually enjoy this class." Jenny replied coolly as she watched the last bit of tofu they had in the fridge sink into the meat. She sighed and then wondered if Nate could let her borrow some of the lettuce he grabbed from the kitchen so she could make a salad too, since that was probably the only thing she could think to make that was vegan friendly at the moment.

Karen carefully crept towards the little rug by the sink, she caught a glimpse of Nate walking past her in the corner of her eye and soon found herself lurching forward. She let out a cry as she waved her arms around to help her regain some sort of balance as Nate rushed over towards her, a bottle of olive oil salad dressing in his hand as he came close to catching her, only for her to regain her lost balance after smacking the bottle of salad dressing out of his hands so the bottle shattered on the ground, leaving broken glass and a slick olive oil dressing that Rachel slipped on and sent her meat stuffed fish to knock Double-N's pot pie off the counter and both meals landed on the floor with a splat. Rachel winced as she pulled herself onto her hands and knees, inspected herself to make sure she had missed the broken glass and spared herself from injury and then looked at the two ruined dishes, then gave Double-N an apologetic look before scowling at her friend.

Nate helped her to the sink, she took one of her shoes off and put it under the sink to rinse the grease and oil off so she could walk properly, she turned on the water and grabbed the shoe only for it to slip from her hand and back towards her work station, smack into the knife and sending it flying towards the Ans and Jay. Making their eyes widen with horror as it seemed to slowly arc towards them. Just as the knife's blade was a foot away from being able to slide into the gap between Double-N's two front teeth, Larie quickly held his meatloaf in front of her, letting it slice into his food and not her face.

"T-thank you, Larie…" she managed before An, Anny and Jay in taking deep breaths to help slow their heart rates and to lessen the effects of the adrenaline that had flooded their veins. He let out a sigh of relief that they were unharmed and nodded before scowling at the source of all the chaos in the kitchen along with the rest of the class.

Tee then popped up beside Karen, shoved her shoe into her free hand and grabbed the jar and her stuck arm, "What are you doing?" she shrieked, trying to shake him off of her and beginning to swat at him with her shoe until Nate snatched it away from her, scowling.

"I'm gettin' yer arm out." Tee snarled once she was unarmed. He then easily pulled the jar off and freed her hand, "Now, since ya ruined all our hard work…" he shoved a mop into her now free hands and told her that "I suggest you start cleaning up the mess you made before we all mess _you_ up."

Karen opened her mouth for a smart reply, only to see food everywhere and a room full of angry faces glaring at her. And sighed, oh well, at least she didn't need to cook anything anymore. She then began pushing the mop around the floor, not noticing that the knife she had been using to cut octo-weiners was no longer in Larie's meatloaf…

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While cooking class had been a bit of a let down due to her pot pie ending up on the floor, science class had perked Ann's mood right back up before she and her friends enjoyed a lovely lunch in the school's garden, chuckling as Anny teased An about how Jay Kanker had ran to comfort her when the ant queen had perished, forgetting about the meatloaf he had practically thrown into the oven until Rachel sniffed the air, threw the oven open and cried out, "THE MEAT HAS BEEN HEATED FOR FAR TOO LONG AND IS NOW RUINED AND WILL BE UNPLEASANT ON THE TONGUE! YOU! YELLOW-HAIRED-KANKER BOY! WHAT COULD BE SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU LEAVE PERFECTLY GOOD FOOD TO BECOME BLACK AND CHARRED?!"

Jay didn't really have much of an answer, he simply became embarrassed that he was the only one who's dish was ruined because of his own negligence and sadly put his meal into the sink and turned on the faucet to cool down his burned meatloaf.

An blushed and fiddled with her fingers as she replied, prompting more teasing from Anny and clever comments from Ann.

"Jay's really nice to me." She said suddenly, her friends silencing as they let that fact soak in.

They could literally count the males An had described as 'nice to her' on one four fingered hand.

Nate Van Bartonschmeer and Jay Kanker. Her father was also on that list too, however due to her younger brother's lies, he was often very strict with her so there were very few times that she described her father as 'nice to her', but they knew he loved his little girl so they counted him in anyway.

Her friends pulled her into a tight hug, grateful that someone treated their simple friend the way she should be treated; with lots of love and kindness.

"About time you find another nice guy." Anny chuckled.

"We're very happy for you, An." Ann cooed. An said nothing and simply enjoyed the hug before they heard the warning bell for the next class and let go and began packing up their things to put away in the classroom before heading out to the very large and very fancy girl's locker room, the wisest of the trio suddenly looking sullen. "Curse physical education…" Ann muttered as they entered the large building by the gym and she opened her locker for her gym uniform.

A few minutes later, the three joined the rest of their class in the gym, where the gym teacher began taking role. When he got to Karen's name and found she was absent, he scowled, but continued to see who else was present before texting the school nurse to see if his missing student was playing hooky in the infirmary.

After taking role, he told them that they were gonna do laps around the school campus since the track was being repainted. The class replied with booing and crying out complaints that the teacher silenced with a stern look before saying that anyone who tried to skip halfway through would have to clean all the bathrooms in the school.

The punishment almost seemed tempting to Ann as walked outside with her class and the group took off running, mainly so they could slow down a little farther away without being scolded or caught. Since they were doing laps around the school, the teacher probably had his plans for today messed up by the large riding mowers in the sports fields and the painters in the track and was most likely grumpy, so while they all wanted to simply start off walking, they knew that the teacher would most likely have them all cleaning the gym after school if they dared be so openly rebellious, so they ran out of the gym and ran around the side of the school before most of them began to slow down.

Ann being one of them, "Sweat…" she panted as she leaned on her knees for a minute, "I was… starting… to _sweat_ …"

"Yer _fine_." Anny dismissed with a wave as she urged her forward, "It wouldn't kill ya to break a sweat every now and then." She said with a smirk. However, despite her words, she kept her pace slow so she wouldn't leave her behind, and An, who had plenty of energy after lunch, ran around them in circles as they walked, chuckling to herself as she did so.

They made it to the main high school building in fifteen minutes, mainly due to them jogging whenever a teacher glanced their way and then slowing back down to a walk and back again. They managed to catch up with Nate and the Kanker brothers, who had slowed a bit to take a breath near the entrance.

But before any of the girls could call out to them, a wall of water crashed down towards Tee and Nate, Larie looked up and saw it before it hit them and pushed them out of the way, getting soaked by the falling water in their place in the process. The girls looked up and caught sight of long red hair and a pink hat.

"Was that…" Ann began.

"Why did Karen try to pour water on Nate and Tee?" An asked.

"That _bitch_." Anny hissed as she led a dash towards the boys, "She was trying ta get pay back on Tee fer tellin' her off!" She growled.

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Nate felt guilt quickly fill his stomach as soon as the water stopped falling down and he finally got a look at the blue haired Kanker, who was soaked to the bone and shivering, his wet hair practically glued to his face as he choked out a mouthful of water. "You okay, dude?" he cried, he nodded as he coughed, putting his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath, Jay patting him on the back to help get any access water out of his lungs. Tee looked up the moment he learned that his brother was okay and carefully scanned his eyes up the building, his eyes narrowed and a furious frown on his lips as he did so.

"It was Karen!" Anny cried, making the boys turn to see the Ans racing over to them, the girls slightly out of breath for a moment before Anny told them that, "We saw her on the roof."

"What? Karen?" Nate cried, shocked. Why would she try to pour water on him and Tee? "Why would she do that?"

"Cause she's a bitch." Anny said plainly as she turned to glare up at the roof. Double-N gave him a sympathetic pat on the back, "But we could also have been mistaken, she could have been looking over when someone else poured water on you all and saw what happened and feared we'd think she had done this and fled." She then looked at her friends, "To be fair, all we saw was red hair and a pink hat. For all we know, that girl wasn't even Karen." She pointed out. Anny crossed her arms, but couldn't argue her point and An continued to look up at the roof, as if the girl would pop her head over the railing to look down at them.

The sound of grinding teeth made them all recall that Larie was still soaking wet and probably cold, poor dude was shaking and he was probably trying to keep his teeth from chattering. "Come on, dude, I have a spare gym uniform in my locker, let's get you out of those wet clothes."

"T-thanks…" Larie managed, "B-but I-" Nate stopped him with a hand, "I insist dude." He said, as he motioned for the Kanker to follow him into the building and told the others that they'd be back in a bit and to keep going. "We'll catch up." He promised.

They hesitated for a moment, then nodded, waving at them as they went inside.

Nate walked over to his locker and reached for his gym bag, which housed his spare uniform, when he spotted a letter with a kiss mark on the seal fall out of his locker.

"A l-love letter?" Larie commented as Nate handed him the spare before kneeling down to pick it up. "P-pe-people still ra-ra-write those?"

"Seems so, dude." He said as he looked it over, there was no name on the envelope, nothing outside the kiss mark seal on it. "Although, not sure if it's for me."

"It h-ha-hasta be." Larie said as he pointed to a row of lockers farther to the right, "M-ma-My brothers and m-ma-my lockers are down t-that way. And t-there aren't any other b-bah-bah-boys in this school." Nate stopped himself from suggesting that the note could be for girl and decided to look at it carefully to see if he could find any kind of hint as to who it was for or from, soaking in the facts Larie had just given him while he inspected the kiss mark on the back of the envelope, the color looked familiar… Wait, he knew this color, it was _her_ shade. It always made her smile look just a teeny bit more beautiful to him.

"This is Karen's lipstick." He heard himself say before looking up at Larie, who was standing there with the spare uniform, still dripping wet, "W-Wa-What?" he cried, "O-open it! Open it!" he urged.

Nate opened it and found a short, straightforward message in Karen's handwriting, "Dear Nate," he read aloud, "Please meet me on the roof today during lunch time, I have something to tell you. Always Yours, Karen…" he stood there for a moment before his eyes went wide, " _That's why she tried to soak me, Dude!_ " he cried.

Larie gave him a funny look, informing him that he'd have to elaborate a bit. "I took Jenny on my bike to get lunch since we both forgot ours today and we both ate in the courtyard!" he looked down at the letter, "She must have thought I stood her up at lunch so she decided to get even!"

"T-that _da-da-does_ sound like something she'd da-da-do." Larie agreed, "S-so what are ya-yah gonna do?"

Nate looked at the letter, while it made his heart soar knowing that she liked him like he liked her, dumping water on him and their classmates because he didn't go up to meet her was not cool. "I'm gonna set things straight." Nate said firmly.

Larie gave him a light tap on the back, "G-good luck, man," then held up the spare uniform, "I'm gonna go change. T-thanks again for the sp-spare."

Nate smiled and nodded before making his way up to the roof, using this time to try to figure out what he would actually say to her; 'I feel the same about you too, but you're a jerk for pouring water on me and the guys just cause I didn't see the note you shoved into my locker until after lunch'? No, that didn't sound right, 'What you did to me and the guys was not cool, dude. And I just got your note, I like you too.' No… it still didn't sound right… was he being too nice?

He shook his head, Karen had crossed a line when she poured that water on them and this time he was not gonna be Mr. Nice Guy and make excuses for her or ask her to apologize. No, he was gonna tell her off and tell her that if she wanted to be in a relationship with him, then she was gonna need to be the nice Karen he knew back when he was fat. Only she'd need to be like that to everyone from now on, no more picking on people cause she felt like it, no more making people cry or treating them like dirt. Karen was gonna be a better person whether she liked it or not.

He finally made it to the roof and began to search for her, after fifteen minutes, he had searched the high school roof, the library roof and finished his search on the middle school roof. He sighed and was ready to give up only for him to suddenly feel something sharp in his back, he let out a gasp and felt hands push him forward onto the ground. He felt pain shoot through his body and something warm soaking into the back his shirt and his vision began to blur.

Was he dying? How? Why? Had he been stabbed? By who? Was it Karen? Was she that mad about him standing her up that she'd kill him? He felt his body become heavy. While he didn't know how or why this was happening, he did know one thing for sure, "This is _not_ cool, dude." He murmured before coughing up a bit of blood.

Those were the last words Nate Van Bartonschmeer uttered before closing his eyes and passing away due to his injuries.

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Jamie had left class after lunch, claiming she had a 'tummy ache', since this wasn't unusual, she was excused to go to the nurse's office.

Only Sam knew she was full of it.

She hadn't done any of the usual things she did when she had a stomach ache, she didn't hold her stomach and moan dramatically for five minutes before asking to go to the nurse, instead, she asked as soon as class started, she didn't even give the teacher a second to speak before asking to leave.

Sam became suspicious, but didn't leave class with her. After all, he didn't have a tummy ache, so why should he get to leave. He glanced out the window and spotted the Ans, Kankers (since they were the only boys at school besides him and Nate, he knew who they were) and Nate looking up at the roof, Larie Kanker soaking wet.

At that point, he decided to leave and asked to be excused to use the restroom, the request was granted. He went inside, waited a bit, then went to visit Jamie in the nurse's office, playing it cool as if he was just on his way back from the bathroom instead of making sure she hadn't done something she'd regret. She acted as if she was starting to feel a little better, but she was out of breath, her uniform was wet and she was sweaty and not in a sick way. He recalled the blue-haired Kanker's sopping wet form and decided to check the roof when he left the nurse's office to see if he could find out what Jamie was up to and why she had done what she did.

Sam had no idea that he'd see the horrifying result to Jamie's prank as he slowly opened the door to the rooftop…

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Larie changed out of the bloody spare gym uniform and gloves, dropped it into the gym bag and washed off any blood on his arms, legs and face, which there wasn't much of. He had managed not to get any blood on his shoes, but he washed them anyway, after all, he had been soaked earlier, who would question why his shoes were wet? Since everyone would be finishing up their laps and going to change into their regular uniforms soon, he put his wet clothes back on and grabbed his regular uniform before running back to the bathroom to change, making sure no one saw him as he did so. He made sure there was no blood in the sink before sneaking outside, dumping the gym bag into the school's incinerator and then turning it on.

He then went back into the bathroom, cleaned any blood drops off the floor with a sponge mop he found nearby and washed it out then wiped up some drops of dried up urine (just in case someone questioned why it was there), wrapped up his wet gym uniform in paper towels and headed into the classroom, wondering if his sweet Muffin would be worn out from running…

Daw, maybe she'd even be panting when she returned to the classroom!

He quickened his pace with an eager expression on his face as he pictured her cheeks red from huffing and puffing and her plump lower lip in a cute pout as she talked about how she detested gym class and how it always made her feel sweaty, disgusting and exhausted.

He was so impatient to see his beloved Ann again that he dashed through the halls, passing the Nurse's office and rounding the corner as Karen was being pushed out of room by the Nurse, who was scolding her for feigning pains to avoid her classmates ever since she ditched the cooking class clean up.

Karen huffed and stomped into the girl's bathroom, not knowing that her decision to go to the nurse's office may have just saved her from a life in prison.

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The Ans and the two dry Kanker brothers didn't see Larie or Nate until they returned to the classroom, when Larie walked in with a few minutes to spare as he entered the room with his wet uniform wrapped up in paper towels from the bathroom, his brothers quickly swarming around his desk the moment he got there.

"Where were you?" Jay demanded. "Yeah, I thought Nate said something about loaning ya a spare gym uniform." Tee stated with a scowl as Larie plopped his wet uniform on his desk.

"We went to his locker ta get it and it wasn't there." Larie explained, holding up his hands in surrender, "We saw an envelope with a kiss on it and he said it was Karen's shade and opened it. He looked at it, told me ta wait in the guy's locker room for him and he'd get the spare for me, and I haven't seen him since." He rubbed the back of his head, "After a while, I figured I should just change into my regular uniform and wrapped up my gym one and tell him not ta bother when I got here but…" he glanced around, "I guess he's still looking for it, cause he's not here…"

" _ **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**_ "

The sound of a high pitched scream made the three brothers jump a bit in surprise… And An to shove her desk across the room as she jumped into a standing position, "BABY BROTHER!" she cried as she raced out of the room, followed by her friends, the Kankers, Rachel, Jenny and the rest of the class, they followed the loud, constant screaming to the rooftop, and then across the library roof to the middle school roof, where Sam was screaming with tears streaming down his cheeks while crawling backwards towards the rail with his hands and feet, practically hysterical.

The teens stared at him, a bad feeling beginning to settle through the crowd while An raced over to her brother and gathered the terrified child in her arms and held him tightly. He stopped screaming as soon as his sister pulled him into a hug and grabbed his sister tightly and buried his head into her chest, shaking violently and sobbing.

An knew the moment her brother hugged her back instead of pushing her away that something was very wrong. "What's wrong, Baby Brother? Why are you screaming?" An asked, her voice overflowing with concern and fear for her younger sibling.

Sam peered up at his sister, terror and pain bright in his eyes as he slowly looked to his left and slowly rose his trembling hand and pointed towards the thing that had probably traumatized him.

The high schoolers followed the child's finger until they saw what had frightened him so:

Nate was lying face down in a pool of his own blood with a knife in his back, a crumpled note with an envelope with a kiss mark on it in his ashen hand.

"OMIGOSH!" a girl cried, "WE HAVE TO GET A TEACHER!" Several students raced back down the stairs to get help while Double-N rushed towards the body, ready to perform first aid to see if she could save him, only for Larie to stop her with a firm grasp on her shoulder, "It's too late." He said solemnly as the girl began to shake. Rachel then placed her hand on her other shoulder, "Hair-Like-A-Blueberry-Kanker boy is right, Double-N-An girl. There is no way Jovial-Nate boy could survive losing that much blood, yes?" Double-N's eyes began filling with tears as she looked at the ground, unable to look at the boy she could not save. An shielded her brother's eyes from the corpse with her arm as she pulled him closer to her, beginning to murmur comforts in a motherly attempt to at least calm him down until their parents could get here.

"So there is nothing we can do?" Anny finally asked after a long silence, her voice thick with emotion. Jenny, Rachel, An, Tee, Jay and Larie exchanged glances, knowing they could do nothing to save the boy lying dead on the roof in front of them but obviously not wanting to say that, Rachel and Larie let their hands slide off Double-N's shoulder as she turned to Anny and stood next to her, opening her mouth to say something, but closing it sourly when nothing sprang to mind.

"We can tell the police what we do know." Tee said firmly, catching everyone's attention, "We can keep our eyes and ears open and help them catch whoever did this." They nodded solemnly and stared at the body of their classmate, the shock seeping away to grief and woe.

It was quiet for a minute, minus the sounds of sniffles and stifled sobs, until Larie narrowed his eyes and mumbled, "What happened to the spare uniform?" the others looked at him, confused.

"He offered me a spare uniform after Karen poured water on me, said it was in his locker, but when we got there, it wasn't there, that letter was." He explained, pointing to the papers in the boy's hand, "He said he'd be back with it in a bit and asked me to wait, but it's not here either."

"So?" Tee said, wondering where his brother was going with this.

"What if the person who left the letter took his spare uniform?" he asked the group, sounding composed but with an undertone of anger.

"Hold up." Jenny piped in, "Didn't I hear you say something about Nate saying that kiss mark on that letter being Karen's back when we were in the classroom?"

"He said it was her shade or something, yeah." Larie replied with a nod, a grim expression on his face.

Jenny slowly turned to the body and murmured, "So, you think that _Karen_ killed Nate?" The group looked at the body, then at Larie.

"I'm not sure…" he said bitterly, "but has anyone seen her since cooking class?"

"We saw her pour water on ya during gym." Anny reminded him, "And she would probably know about his spare uniform…"

It got quiet again.

"The Daughter of a Shepherd cannot believe that we are doubting the innocence of Carrot-Top-Karen girl, but…" she looked at Larie, "Poaching He-Who-May-Rest-In-Peace-Nate boy's spare psychical education garments and giving him the need to change and luring him up here would be something she'd do, yes?" she pointed out.

"Yeah." Anny growled, sadness quickly falling away to anger, "And we all know what happens when she doesn't get her way. I betcha she confessed or somethin' and got turned down and then…" Double-N stopped her mid-sentence and pointed to their fellow An, who was doing the best she could with holding back her tears as she tried to console her wailing brother. Anny glanced at them then down at her brainy friend and nodded, clenching her fists, "If she thinks she's getting away with this…"

The teacher burst through the door with several students leading her towards the body, when she saw it, she looked at it with a horrified expression.

"No… it can't be…" She murmured before racing towards it and bent over it to see if he was breathing, once she saw that he obviously _wasn't_. She spoke in a voice thick with emotion, "This is a tragedy… why would anyone do this?" she then reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, "I'll call the police immediately…" she said as her shaking fingers dialed the number for the police, "There has been a murder at Peach Creek Academy. I need the police right away!" she said, her voice full of anger and determination to catch whoever spilled the blood of one of her students.

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The teacher who made the call guarded the body until the police arrived, which was good because apparently the middle schoolers began appearing in the stairwell door, as if only then hearing Sam's screaming, she shooed them away, but not before they spotted the body and fled down the stairs, shrieking in terror.

The news of the dead boy on the roof spread like wildfire through out the school and when the police arrived, a few reporters began trying to make their way inside the building, along with many concerned parents that the police had to block from coming inside so they could investigate properly.

After taking the body out to the coroner's van through a back gate used by supply trucks so the hordes of people by the front entrance wouldn't make a spectacle out of the poor boy, they began sweeping the school for clues and began questioning all students present.

After a long day of interviewing and asking to write statements and for fingerprints, searching the large campus and getting some calls from the lab, here is what they got:

Death was caused by a single stab wound to the heart that also sliced into a major vein and made his death quick.

The knife in the victim's back was from the cooking classroom, where Nate's class had been shortly before lunch. The fingerprints on it belonged to a girl named Karen, whose handwriting, fingerprints and DNA were on the letter in his hand. Due to the massive clean up in there after Karen caused a huge mess when trying to address her hand, which was stuck in a jar of mini wieners, the students had not noticed the knife had been missing when cleaning and putting everything away because they had been in a rush to finish so they could eat their lunches before gym.

A girl with long red hair and a pink hat, who had been believed to have been Karen, had disappeared halfway through the clean up and had been seen dumping water on the victim and a male classmate, Tee Kanker, by three female classmates named An, Anna Marie and Anny, the boy who found the body and An's younger brother, Sam, had seen a girl pour water on some guys from his classroom window too, but hadn't gotten too good of a look, but he had decided to check it out after visiting his friend Jamie in the nurse's office in the middle school building.

Another male classmate, Larie Kanker, Tee Kanker's younger brother, had pushed the two out of the way of the falling water only to get soaked himself. The girls had raced over, telling them who they believed had pulled the cruel prank, only for the victim to make them feel bad about pointing their fingers at her and retract their accusations, revealing that they had only really seen red hair and a pink hat.

The victim then offered Larie Kanker a spare gym uniform in his locker in front of the girls, his older brother and his younger brother, Jay Kanker, the victim assured them that they'd be back in a bit and to keep running laps. Which they did.

Larie Kanker informed them that when they got to the victim's locker, that there was no spare gym uniform. There had been what looked like a love letter in his locker (when asked why he thought it was a love letter, he said that Nate had inspected the envelope and he had seen a kiss on the seal, so he figured it was probably a love letter, either that or it was the weirdest letter of challenge he'd ever seen) The victim identified the lipstick as being Karen's, opened the letter, looked at it, and told Larie to wait for him in the nearby boy's bathroom and that he'd be back in a bit with the spare uniform.

After waiting a while, (trying to dry off with paper towels apparently) he realized that the next class would start soon and he'd need to change back into his regular uniform anyway, so he ran to the classroom, grabbed his normal uniform, went back to the bathroom, changed, wrapped his wet one up in paper towels and raced back to the classroom to meet the others.

After that, the others confirmed hearing Larie tell that story, they heard Sam scream and all of them followed the sound up to the roof and to where the body was.

The officers had found the incinerator on, but could save nothing inside it.

A few students told the officers about Larie's theory about whoever put the letter in his locker, might have stolen his spare uniform to help encourage Nate to come up.

And with all the things the students told them about Karen, she seemed like the type who didn't take rejection or not getting her way very well, and that she was often cruel and had no respect for other people or their belongings.

Them thinking Karen did it made sense…

The picture the evidence and the students' painted was that Karen slipped a note into Nate's locker during the cooking class clean up (her taking the knife from class just in case she was rejected), taking the gym clothes with her and maybe even putting them on, asking him to come up to the roof during lunch, hoping that even if he didn't want to answer her confession, he'd have to get his belongings back.

However, Nate did not go back to his locker for lunch, the clean up went into lunch and when they were done, he and two of his classmates, Jenny and Rachel, got lunch from the school cafeteria and quickly ate their meals before heading over to change for gym. The girls had a big fancy locker room with a hot spring, while the boys had to change in the gym storage room while they were building a boys locker room. So Karen must have been angry from being stood up and poured water on Nate and Tee for pay back, only for Larie to push them out of the way, making her angrier.

When Nate finally came up, he told her off for taking his things and trying to pour water on him and the other boys, probably rejecting her and turning his back on her to leave, when she stabbed him in the heart, getting blood on his spare clothes. She panicked, left the knife took the spares off and changed back into her uniform, dropped the spare into the incinerator and turned it on and hid in the girl's room until the police arrived.

It would have been an open and shut case… if it wasn't for Karen having an alibi from ditching halfway through cooking class until well after the murder from the high school nurse and the camera they had installed above the inside of the door of the infirmary after a small scandal with a girl stealing pain meds to sell on the street last year.

Karen came in claiming stomach pains only for the teacher to realize the girl was faking it when she heard giggling through the closed curtain around the bed she had placed the girl on. After chewing her out for her deed, she was kicked out after Nate had been murdered and was seen by another girl heading into the bathroom and was threatened to stay away and not tell anyone she was in there when she went into to check on her.

It seemed as though someone was trying to frame this girl for murder, but as to who, well, the girl wasn't the friendliest and her crush on Nate was fairly well known, but unlike Karen, Nate was very well liked by all, not a single person could say a bad thing about him, so it was hard to say who would do this.

They decided to end the investigation for the day, due to having no leads and too many students information to shift through to see if they were possible suspects and sent the students home, after all, they had nothing to hold anyone on and they all probably wanted to go home and mourn for the loss of their fellow student or assure their parents that they were fine or both.

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Sam raced up the stairs and into his room once he got home, ignoring his parent's questions as he did, leaving An to explain what had happened today and what he had seen…

What he had found…

A little while after he closed himself in his room, his parents came in with somber faces and soft voices, telling him that they were sorry he had to see something like that and that they were so sorry that his friend had died. Sam nodded dully and mumbled something about needing to be alone before they finally left him be.

Once he heard them go down the steps, he walked into his closet and pushed his clothes aside and looked upon his shrine to Double-N.

The images of the gap-toothed, graceful genius helped make the shock and the stress from earlier fade and helped him clear his head so he could began thinking about who might have killed Nate.

He knew it wasn't Karen. After what she had done to him last week, Jamie would never agree to help her with anything. Besides, how would it help prove Karen innocent by having Jamie wear a red wig and a pink hat like hers and pour water on the only other boys in school?

He knew Jamie couldn't kill anyone, even if she had been in the high school building that morning, the knife had been there when their classes' cooking class started, and Jamie had been with him until she ditched class after lunch.

But then who did Jamie help lure Nate up to the roof top?

Sam was determined to find out what happened and why, because, well, while he hadn't been best friends with Nate (because he had a feeling that he liked Double-N just like he did), it was hard _not_ to like the guy. He was always so friendly and nice to everyone around him, the guy could make people smile by entering a room. And Jamie had helped someone kill him…

He continued pondering this until he heard a knock on his door, "Baby Brother?" he heard his sister call softly from the other side of the door, "Can Big Sister come in?" He quickly threw his clothes back into place, hiding his shrine, "Uh sure An!" he said as he threw his closet door shut and turned to see his sister enter his room.

Her eyes were red, puffy and bloodshot behind her glasses, which were caked with left over salt from her tears, her nose was red and her voice was tired and thick with emotion, "Are you okay?" she asked. 'I should be asking you that.' He thought plainly as he swiftly took in the rest of his sister's appearance, she had changed out of her uniform into a red and white striped tank top, a green vest and jeans, a few oddly shaped stains on her clothes and a lot of water on her knees, meaning she had probably curled up into a ball and sobbed after she changed. There were lines of dried snot on her arms, meaning she wiped her nose on her arm, and her really gross hanky had a new layer of gunk on it, meaning she had used it to blow her nose recently. "Because if you want to talk about what happened today, big sister will listen." She finished.

Sam pondered asking An to assist him in figuring out who Jamie had inadvertently helped murder Nate, after all, she was family, he knew she wouldn't turn on him and would protect him if Jamie's partner came after him. Then he remembered that his sister was an idiot, gullible as anything and she couldn't keep a secret to save his life. She would be no help to him. No use to him.

No.

He was better off working alone.

"I'm fine An." He said softly, knowing that if he raised his voice to his sister, his parents would scold him, telling him that while he'd had a rough day, there was no need to take it out on his sister, who was only trying to help. "I'd really rather not talk about it tonight."

She nodded, then waited in his doorway for a minute, "Jamie came by to see you, she wanted to know if you were okay."

Sam scowled a bit, he didn't want to see her right now… not right after she'd had a hand in the death of one of their neighbors, whom they had grown up with… he felt as if he'd feel ill just looking at her. "Is she here?" he growled.

An looked surprised at the reaction at the mention of her brother's best friend, and shook her head wildly, "I told her that you were tired after…" she made a face as she held back a sob, tears forming in her eyes. She sucked in a breath, "today. She said she'd call you later to see how you were feeling."

Sam felt relieved at the news that Jamie wasn't _right_ outside his door, ready to try and console him while digging for all the details she could grasp and decided, that since An had actually done something _useful_ today... "Thanks An, I'm not really in the mood to talk to anyone today."

She seemed surprised by the act of him thanking her, but her expression quickly changed from surprised to a small, warm smile before she gave her brother another tight hug, "An is always happy to help her Baby Brother." She murmured, giving him a light squeeze before walking out of his room and telling him that she was going to stay at Double-N's house until dinner, and to call her if he needed her. He nodded with a small smile before she carefully closed the door behind her, leaving him alone once more with his thoughts as he wiped off his clothes, hoping her stench hadn't gotten on him.

He glanced at a picture of him and Jamie on his dresser, a scowl curling on his lip as he stared. Finally he got up, slammed the picture down onto the dresser, and took deep breaths to keep himself from trashing his room in rage.

Jamie had helped someone cross a line and he was gonna find out who it was, even if he had to make her believe that they were still friends after… _whatever_ she had done.

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Jamie wrote the details of the instructions she was given on Friday and what she had done on Monday in her diary, making sure to not use Larie's name when referring to who actually told her to do those things. It was an insurance policy of sorts, if he came in and found it, he'd see that his name was no where on here and showed that she could keep her mouth shut, and if her involvement was revealed and her diary was read, she would have something to barter with for a light to no sentence for her involvement…although, looking back, all she had been asked to do was get a few things and put them places and pour water on Larie, if anything, she could have be seen as an unknowing accomplice... she shook her head. After she learned that Nate was dead, she figured out the main gist of how Larie had done it, but she had no details or evidence that he had actually done anything to harm Nate in anyway. That, along with many other reasons, was why she kept her mouth shut while being questioned by the police. She had no evidence to back her claims and well, it wasn't as if Karen was the nicest person and that she hadn't made many people miserable before, so all things considered, it wasn't as if she felt bad for the one they had framed for Larie's dark deed, but the guilt for Nate's death was overwhelming.

And she wasn't naïve, she knew that since she had helped him, there was a chance that he could use her helping him to get her to help him with more things… She shivered at the thought of what those things might be before she looked out her window towards Sam's house, the guilt increasing as she looked at it.

When she heard that it was SAM that had discovered the body, she felt as if _she_ had been the one stabbed in the back, she had specifically insisted that Sam not be involved! After taking a moment to breathe and think clearly, she realized that Larie didn't get to pick who found the body first, he had as much control of it as she did over her situation with Sam. Her chest aching when An had told her that Sam was tired and asked if she could talk to him tomorrow.

She instead insisted on calling later to see how he was, An, who was in no mood or condition to argue, said she would let Sam know, but that he might not pick up the phone. Jamie nodded and left, crushed.

She wondered if Larie was feeling any guilt or remorse for his deed, but then stopped herself. She didn't want to know how he felt. She didn't want anything to do with him anymore, because of him, her hands were forever stained with the blood of someone she had known since she was a baby… And now she couldn't disobey him even if she tried.

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Larie slept fine that night, dreaming about going on a date with his Muffin, holding her hand and listening to her melodic laughter as they suddenly began to dance. Holding her close in his dream filled him with glee and he woke up feeling pretty good… only to quickly remember to put on a somber face around his brothers and hide his good mood from all as they walked to school.

His brothers were solemn all the way to school, because, while the three were not particularly close, Nate had been the only other guy in the high school, and now the three of them were only guys left in the high school.

It was quiet in class, someone had put a vase with a yellow flower on Nate's desk early that morning and seeing them made him wonder if his girl was doing okay…

Larie, Tee and Jay glanced around the gloomy room as they slowly made their ways to their seats, the girls had made multiple circles around the room, their heads down and water and mascara streaming down their cheeks as they murmured comforts to one another, trying to console their fellow females and failing. The Ans stuck close together, their eyes red and puffy, most likely from crying as they spoke in soft tones to one another.

By the time the brothers made it to their seats, Karen entered the room.

Her red hair was messy, her eyes were red and puffy with mascara smeared on her cheeks and hands. The mascara smeared all over was the only make up she had on, revealing a pale face and dark bags under her eyes.

The moment she stepped into the classroom, all eyes were on her, and not in a good way. Some girls were glaring at her, like Anny. Some girls looked at her with fear bright in their eyes, like An. And others were looking at her, unsure of what to make of her, like Larie's beloved Ann.

Karen finally realized everyone staring at her and scowled, "What?" she snapped. Most of the girls turned away, leaving only Rachel, Jenny, An, Double-N, Anny, Tee, Larie and Jay to look at the mess of a murder suspect. "You all have something to say?" she demanded, her fists clenched and what little make up she did have on her face making her scowl look way more sinister.

"Yeah." Anny growled back as she stepped out into the middle of the classroom, "I've got something to say."

"Anny!" Double-N whispered, she and An grabbing one of her arms and looking at her pleadingly. She looked down at her friends, her resolve to give Karen a piece of her mind clear in her eyes and body language.

Anny wasn't backing down for shit.

She carefully slid her arm from her friend's grasps and walked right up to Karen, towering over her with a valiant air, "I'm surprised that they let a _murderer_ come back to school." The word 'murderer' seeming to smack Karen in the face as soon as it left the large pink girl's mouth and made her stagger backwards.

Karen was shocked and speechless for a moment…

But only for a moment.

She quickly shook off the shock and grabbed at the collar of Anny's uniform, "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?" she shouted.

"You heard me." Anny growled as she grabbed the girl's wrist and flung it off of her, tearing the collar of her blouse a bit before saying that, "After all the years of _bullyin_ ' and _beatin' us up_ and treating everyone who doesn't think the world shines out your ass like _shit_ , ya think we wouldn't believe you could do something like that?" she demanded, jabbing her long fingernail against Karen's shoulder as she spoke, "That the _one_ time that all yer _money_ and _make up_ and _fake popularity_ didn't get ya what you wanted that you wouldn't make sure that no one else could have him?!" she cried, her voice getting louder as she went on to say that, "I think they shoulda locked you up and thrown away the key before we piss you off too much and you kill all of us too!"

"I DIDN'T KILL NATE!" Karen shrieked as she smacked Anny's hand away and grabbed her hair, making Anny come down to her eye level as she screamed that, "I WOULD _NEVER_ HURT NATE! HE WAS THE ONLY PERSON THAT I…" she paused, her lips pursed with her cheeks puffed up as if she was trying to either keep the words in or out, it was hard to say. She finally pushed Anny away and shouted that, "SOMEONE FRAMED ME! AND JUST BECAUSE A TRAMP LIKE YOU DOESN'T BELIEVE ME DOESN'T MEAN I DID IT!" she then glanced around the room, looking at Rachel and her lackeys, "I mean, you guys don't think I did it, right?"

No one said anything for a minute.

"Right?"

"You have a tendency to strike when you do not get your way, Make-Up-Stained-Karen girl." Rachel said softly, "So while the Daughter of a Shepherd wants to believe that her friend is above suspicion…" she looked at Karen with an apologetic expression as she indicated Anny's torn blouse and messed up hair, "…There is a lot of indication that you had a hand in this unforgivable crime..."

Karen looked at the girls she had considered her friends, hurt and betrayed, "Y-you don't believe me?"

"Rachel wants to believe, Crimson-Haired-Karen girl, but there is much evidence against you, yes?" Upon seeing that _that_ didn't make her friend feel any better, she added that, "And the Blue-Haired-Kanker boy said your letter was the lure that led the poor Deceased-Nate boy to the roof and his doom, so even if Rachel's friend did not do this crime…"

" _ **I DIDN'T KILL NATE**_!" She screamed, turning to face Larie, tears falling down her face as she pointed at him, "AND HOW DO YOU KNOW _HE_ DIDN'T KILL NATE? _HE_ WAS THE LAST ONE WITH HIM!"

Larie was shocked at the sudden (correct) accusation before his face contorted into one of pure rage, there was _no way in hell_ he was gonna let that bitch accuse him of his own crime in front of his Muffin! He opened his mouth, not knowing that his brothers were getting ready to start a rampage, Kanker style, behind him for trying to blame their brother, when the teacher came in, scowling and told all of them to stop pointing fingers, that it didn't do anyone any good. She then insisted Karen apologize to Larie for accusing him of such a horrible deed (Anny didn't have to apologize for shit since she didn't hear Anny blame her for Nate's death earlier). Karen scowled and struggled for ten minutes to get an apology out, leaving all of them to become annoyed with Karen for being unable to simply say 'sorry' so they could move on with their day.

"Can I just say something nasty back to make it even?" Larie finally asked, exasperated, much like the rest of the class. The teacher frowned, obviously not happy about his alternative to the issue at hand, but Karen was taking forever and she needed to give a few announcements before they could finally start class. "Fine." She huffed.

Larie looked at Karen, who looked ready to strangle him and gave her an impish smirk, "Hope ya hang, bitch." He said before walking to his seat, his brothers on either side as if protecting him from anymore (accurate) charges. Leaving some girls to chuckle while the other girls seemed shocked at the statement before the teacher sternly told them to sit down and explained that there would be no after school clubs or sports until the murderer was caught and then told them to open their textbooks to a certain page.

Larie opened his book and suddenly felt something light hit his head, he glanced around and found a crumpled up ball of paper. He picked it up and opened it.

"You'll pay for that, you murderer!" He didn't need to think very hard to know who threw this at him, but instead of bothering to check, he rolled his eyes and stuffed the note into his desk before directing his attention back to the lesson.

Apparently, she found his reaction lack luster and continued to throw balls of paper at him with various threats and nasty comments written on them until class was over.

He sighed, today was going to be a _long_ day.

.

.

.

Ann walked to the cafeteria with her friends, knowing that today's lunch would involve very little eating and a lot of talking about what happened yesterday. She was going to buy lunch today, which was rare since she normally made lunch for herself and brought some extra food for her friends in case they forgot their lunches that day, but after what had happened the day before…

Well, needless to say that she wasn't in the best state of mind to be thinking about what she should have for lunch the next day. She followed her friends into the lunch line only to realize that she had left her purse back in the classroom.

She apologized to her friends, who waved it off, commenting how they had been a little off today too and to simply go get it and come back quickly.

She nodded and made her way back to the classroom, suddenly nervous as she walked through the halls alone. While she had done this plenty of times before, she had never done it while there was a murderer still skulking around the school…

She shivered and held herself as she picked up her pace, rubbing her arms in an attempt to get rid of the goosebumps that covered her arms.

When she finally arrived in the classroom, she quickly gathered her purse and made her way back towards the doorway, only for Karen to block the exit, scowling with her lunch in her hands.

"Move, _tramp._ " She snarled, Ann quickly scurried out of her way so the grumpy girl could pass, shaking with anger as she walked over to Larie Kanker's desk and kicked it over, "Friggin' asshole!" She cried, "It's because of _his_ stupid _lies_ that everyone thinks that _I_ killed Nate!"

Ann watched as Karen kept kicking the boy's desk, insulting him and blaming her anger at being shunned by the other girls in class and found herself becoming irritated at her actions very quickly.

Just because Karen was upset about Nate's death and was hurt that people were thinking that she had killed him, didn't mean she could unleash her wrath upon Larie's desk and say those things about him! Karen didn't know Larie, and while Ann herself admittedly knew very little of him, he certainly didn't deserve to be targeted simply because he had completely understandable suspicions! After all, the police believed her to be the killer due to the massive amount of evidence against her until they found that she had an alibi that only two people besides her knew about!

Flashes of all the times Karen had picked on them, teased them and practically tortured them flickered through her mind as if a part of a hellish montage;

The time she hung Anny by a flagpole by her underwear because they wore a similar dress on the first day of school in first grade. Or the time she poured glue on An's seat so her pants would rip when she sat back up, only for the chair to come up with her and Karen tip it over and use it to mash An's face against the ground because An had stolen her thunder about her new haircut by coming to school with a much shorter one in second grade. Or when she stole her ant farm and threw it off the roof top, killing ten generations that she had raised herself and had brought to school to show their third grade science teacher. Or when she told the whole school that Anny's middle name was 'Skeeter' and kept the teasing going for three months in seventh grade. The time when she tricked An into inhaling a bucket of butterscotch, telling her it was gravy, making her have the worse allergic reaction she'd ever had, nearly killing her in eighth grade. And a few weeks ago when she threw her notebooks, bag and a necklace her parents had given her for one of the few birthdays they had been able to attend into the toilet, she nearly flushed it down too, if Anny hadn't grabbed her and flung her away from the toilet while An gathered all of her belongings out of the toilet (knowing her brainy friend would be unable to) and while it hadn't been used before Karen threw her things in there, it was still upsetting to say the least.

Compared to Larie, who had merely struck up a pleasant conversation and had let her cry on his shoulder while they all waited for the police to arrive. He and his brothers had even offered to walk them home (the Ans had gotten rides home from An and Anny's parents, but the offer had still been sweet).

"Larie isn't the reason people think you killed Nate, _you_ are!" She found herself saying. Karen stopped kicking the desk, her eyes dark and filled with rage, "What did you just say?" she challenged as she walked towards her like a tiger would approach it's wounded prey, her fists clenched and blood tricking down her knuckles due to her fingernails digging into her palms.

Ann was paralyzed by fear as the fuming girl crept towards her, "Answer me, _tramp._ " She hissed, " _What. Did. You. Just. Say?_ " Ann stumbled backwards into the hallway, frightened as Karen quickly closed the distance and grabbed her by the collar of her uniform.

" _ **Talk you worthless gap-toothed loser!**_ " she demanded darkly as she threw Ann against the wall and made her cringe from pain.

Ann was the psychically weakest and slowest of her friends, often using her wit and ingenuity to make something to help her out of a jam or talk her way out of trouble, but she was in one of those spots where she envied An's massive strength and Anny's unwavering determination, because this was one of the few situations where she couldn't craft a clever contraption or use her massive intellect to save her hide.

Karen grabbed her hair and began yanking on it, making Ann cry out and fall onto her knees so her neck wouldn't break from all the tugging and yanking Karen did as she demanded for her to tell her what she had said in the classroom.

Only for the grip on her hair to lesson and Karen to cry out in pain as Anny cried, "THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING TO DOUBLE-N!"

 _She was saved._

She looked up, expecting to see Anny crushing Karen's hand to free her while An reached out to her to pull her back onto her feet and into a big, warm hug while Anny addressed her attacker, only to see Larie Kanker scowling darkly at Karen as he put more pressure on her wrist until she finally let go of her hair as her friends raced over and quickly inspected her for injuries and pulled her into a warm embrace before Anny let go, steamed.

After letting her friend go get her purse, she and An quickly remembered that Nate, had been left alone to get something too… and was found dead on the roof a little while later.

They quickly dashed after her, hoping she would be alright when they got to her. By the time they caught up, Larie Kanker was forcing Karen to release Double-N's hair, while the genius was on her knees, obviously relieved to have been rescued before Anny shouted at Karen for messing with her friend.

Anny was ready to tear Karen a new one, only, despite Karen releasing Ann, Larie's grip on Karen's arm only got tighter as his visible eye became as dark and ominous as a storm cloud. An pulled her brilliant friend closer to her as the three of them watched Karen kick and shout at him to let go.

"LARIE!" Tee cried from behind him, catching everyone's attention, revealing Jay looking at him with a concerned expression from behind his elder brother, who stood straight and tall, his jaw set in a stern expression and oozing authority in a way that Ann assumed that only an elder brother could, "She ain't worth it, let the cops take care of 'er, she's bound to be arrested soon enough."

Larie snarled at Karen once more before pushing her away from Ann and her friends. She backed away from him, gripping her wrist, "STAY AWAY FROM ME, YOU PSYCHO!" she shouted at him, as if _he_ had started this whole incident. Tee and Jay walked up so they stood on either side of their blue hair brother, united. The three brothers then stared the girl down before she skulked down the hall and out of sight, crying out that Larie was a psycho as she skittered out of sight.

Larie then looked to her with concern practically written all over his face, "You okay? She didn't hurt ya, did she?" he asked as he gently placed a hand onto the side of her face, inspecting it for injury.

She opened her mouth to speak but instead let out a sob and began breaking down into tears.

Nate's death, Karen's attack on her, the fact that, despite the murder, her parents still would be unable to come home until that Friday. She had tried to keep herself together after Anny had left her house yesterday and now it seemed as though that the emotions she had been holding in could no longer be contained.

Larie and An both panicked a bit at the reaction to his question and began comforting and calming her down, with Jay quickly joining them, trying to cheer her up and get her to laugh or at least to stop crying.

Anny and Tee looked at her sympathetically before glaring down the hall the way Karen left. "Forget the stupid noose." Anny murmured, "I hope she gets the electric chair."

"Agreed." Tee muttered before the two leaders gathered up the rest of their trio and escorted them back to the lunchroom where they could hopefully enjoy the rest of their lunch period in peace.

.

.

.

Jamie had been told by the drama club on Monday that since all after school clubs had been cancelled, they didn't want or need her to come in and check on the costumes and risk putting herself in danger. She told them she understood and thanked them for being concerned for her well being before leaving, hoping they hadn't discovered the missing wig, hat and gloves were gone just yet. She hadn't heard anything about the police noticing them being missing or finding the wig and hat she had shoved in the incinerator to be burned with the trash later that day.

Jamie had spent the rest of that week dreading another request from Larie, asking her to help him set up another murder, she had nightmares of Larie using her as marionette, pulling her strings to make her commit murder after murder until she'd wake up screaming.

She didn't hear from Larie again until Friday morning, one week since Nate's death, and it was only to ask her to move a bucket and a stepstool into the girl's bathroom.

That was it.

No disguises, no pulling mean pranks, no asking to participate in some club, just to get a bucket and a step stool into the girl's bathroom. And she had to do that whenever it was her classes' turn to clean the bathrooms (Sam always had to clean the boy's room since he was the only one in the middle school who used it) so it wasn't even that weird of a request, even if she was supposed to get it into a girl's bathroom on the second floor of the high school. Actually, since the schools shared the stepstools and buckets used to clean the bathrooms anyway, it wasn't uncommon for anyone to ask an older or younger student for them or to see a middle schooler drop them off in a high school bathroom in the middle of the day before running back to the middle school building or vise versa, although she'd have to go through the library to do so if she didn't want to running from one building to another outside instead of using the roof since the doors to the roof had been locked up after Nate had been killed.

So, since she didn't really see how his request violated her rules, she put them in the bathroom he had specified before dashing back to class, getting a weird look from Sam when she got back, huffing and puffing until she told him that she had been asked to take some stuff to a bathroom by an upperclassmen because it was their class's turn to clean it.

While she didn't know if Larie needed her to do that because his class would be cleaning the bathroom or to help him with some crime, she was grateful that he has asked nothing more of her and told her nothing about his plan. The less things she did that seemed criminal to her, the easier it would be to tell the police why she put them there, if Larie actually DID commit a crime. She wrote down the instructions and her actions in her diary anyway, just in case. Leaving his name in this time since the instructions did not seem out of place or odd like last time. To be honest, even though she was worried about his reasons, she couldn't really think of a way one could use a bucket and a stepstool to commit murder… But it didn't mean Larie wasn't planning another one…

She wracked her brain all weekend to understand how Larie could kill someone with just a bucket and a stepstool, but the only thing she had been able to think of was maybe drowning someone in a bucket of water… but then why would he need a stepstool? She finally began to think that she was probably overreacting, just because he had killed someone with her help didn't mean that him asking for a bucket and step ladder had anything to do with a new plan to kill someone else, that if Larie _was_ planning another murder, he'd have something more complex in mind like he had the first time.

With that, she finally allowed herself to relax… And with great timing too, because Sam invited her out to lunch on Sunday, which was fantastic since Sam had hardly spoken to anyone all week. Probably either too deep in mourning or thought (or both) to speak.

When she called last Friday he simply said he wanted to be alone and hung up. So him talking to her in general was a big deal, so the fact that he had actually come to her house on Sunday and invited her to lunch? _**THIS WAS A HUGE DEAL!**_

Sam apologized for being rude on Monday and saying that he just needed some time to come to terms with what he witnessed and began asking her how she had been that week and asking the specifics of what she had done on Monday after the police had let them all go home and the rest of the week, which she did joyfully, not noticing that he was recording everything she said with his phone.

It felt _so_ _good_ talking to him again, so good, in fact, that it actually took her mind off of Larie and the items she had taken into the girl's bathroom on Friday until Monday afternoon when she had to use the ladies' room at school. Then she remembered what she had been asked to do and spent the day worrying who would be Larie's next victim… but the day ended with no deaths, at least, none that she was aware of…

She sighed with relief, Larie had probably only asked her for the bucket and stepstool because it would be their classes' turn to clean it this week. She then relaxed onto her bed and smiled, with Nate gone and Larie probably getting closer to Double-N, Sam was as good as hers.

.

.

.

Tee and Jay had decided not to ask the Ans on a group date that week, mainly because it was too soon after Nate's death to do so, but also because that since his death the class had become very gloomy and morose and that wasn't the kinda mood that helped their chances when asking the Ans if they wanted to go on a group date with them. And besides, with Nate not around any more, their brother didn't need to worry about Nate stealing his crush away anymore…

But that week he'd had a different problem: _Karen._

The day they scared Karen off after catching her picking on Double-N and having to stop Larie from potentially mauling her in the hallway, they came back from lunch to find his desk knocked over with scuff marks that probably came from the bottom of Karen's shoes, his things scattered on the ground and had obviously been stomped on.

She did similar things for the rest of the week, messing up his desk, his lunch, she nearly messed up his homework a few times, but they kept catching her in the act and stopped her. Larie'd had a bitch of a time cleaning up and addressing to his destroyed belongings without being able to simply beat the shit out of her like they did back in their old middle school. But, still, their crushes, the Ans, were the first ones to offer their help in joining the brothers' clean up or offering some of their supplies to make up for the ones Karen destroyed. By Thursday, Double-N told Larie not to bring any more school supplies from home, that he could simply borrow hers and return them to her during lunch and after school until Karen stopped picking on him.

That simple act of kindness made Larie practically float with glee for the whole day.

This simple act of kindness also made Karen start harassing the Ans as well… well, she _would_ have if the entire class hadn't made her drop it as soon as she started by threatening to pretend as if she didn't even exist. And, for someone who constantly wanted to be the center of attention, that kind of punishment was like a kiss of death for her, so she gave the class her word that she would leave the Ans alone, but Tee and Jay had a feeling that she'd continue bothering their brother.

They just had to hope that she either gave up or got arrested for murder and that their brother didn't snap and beat the shit out of this girl for being a vindictive bitch.

.

.

.

An walked upstairs and stopped in front of her brother's bedroom door, worried.

It had been one week since Nate was found dead and Sam had become more and more of a recluse.

He would shut himself into his bedroom as soon as he got home and would often ask for his evening meals to be brought to his room and would work deep into the night and yet still be able to come down for breakfast, awake with nothing but some bags under his eyes to show how late he had been up while he would mutter about things like suspects and alibis and write them down in a notebook that he never let leave his side. Whenever An asked to see to it, he'd angrily swat her hand away and snap at her not to touch it… only for their parents to scowl at him and for him to sigh, barely hiding his annoyance, before giving her a less than halfhearted apology.

An wondered at first how he could stay awake for so long, after all, there weren't any sodas or energy drinks or anything (because An didn't need to drink anything that could give her more energy) and Sam wasn't allowed to have coffee until he started high school. It was a mystery until Thursday night when she caught him red handed with the coffee maker after Sam had dropped a cup and broke it and woke her with a start. Frightened at the prospect of some thug breaking in and threatening the safety of her parents and baby brother, she went upstairs from her room to see who was there and found him in the lit kitchen in front of the coffee maker… and nearly broke her arm when she had reached for him to inspect him for injuries by throwing a cabinet door open and making it smack into her reaching arms, crushing one of her arms smack against the side of the kitchen sink. _Hard._ She had yelped in pain, waking their parents and sending them scurrying downstairs to see An on her knees, curled up in a ball clutching her arm wailing while Sam stood there, panting violently, his whole body shaking as he glared down at her.

Sam 'fessed up to having coffee when his parents forbade it, breaking the cup and nearly breaking her arm, but he claimed that he thought she was a burglar or something and didn't mean to hurt her… however the lights were on well before they came down and he didn't seem to feel guilty for harming her, so they didn't really believe his claim, but didn't exactly give it much thought either as they addressed their sobbing daughter on the floor.

They inspected An's arm, planning to take her to urgent care straight away, but despite the obvious pain she was in, she claimed that she was fine, and it didn't hurt as much anymore and practically pleaded them to wait and see how it felt in the morning. They agreed, and to their relief, An's arm had a large painful bruise on it, but it wasn't swelling too bad nor was she in enormous amounts of pain, but after school they took her to the doctor's office to get checked out. Luckily she was just badly bruised, but the fact that Sam was suddenly being violent towards his sister, who obviously meant no harm, was frightening to them and they took Sam to a therapist that same day to see what the hell was happening to their little boy.

An and her parents were concerned about his behavior, but didn't know what they could do to stop it, his therapist merely told them what they had already figured out; that Sam seemed obsessed with figuring out who had murdered Nate, however, that's not where his 'sudden' violent tendencies arose from. When the therapist asked them if they knew any incidents where Sam had ever been violent towards An before, An opened her mouth for a moment, then stopped.

An was torn, should she tell them, or not?

She felt horrible for her baby brother since Nate had been the only boy in the neighborhood growing up, he probably had meant to her little brother as a male role model and she was gonna make it worse by telling his shrink, probably the only one who knew how to help her baby brother, that he smacked him around often, that Sam could be placed in juvie or something…

But still, even though An wasn't the sharpest pail in the shovel, she knew that non-police people who became too interested in finding murderers often became their next victim, and she didn't want her baby brother to be murdered, even if he hadn't always been the nicest to her and she would never forgive herself if he got murdered by Nate's killer… or any killer really… so maybe having him sent to prison would keep him safe?

She pictured her brother in an old fashioned black and white striped prison uniform, rattling a cup against the bars off his jail cell, looking worn and sullen with tears streaming down his face…

No.

Not only was jail a scary place with bad people in it who could hurt Sam, but her brother had been through a traumatizing event a few days ago and she doubted that he would get much help or support in prison.

So she kept her mouth shut and shook her head, feeling a bit guilty for not telling his therapist and her parents the truth about Sam's abuse and finally get the invisible weight off her back and heart and finally being able to run around in the summer time without long sleeves to hide her injuries. But it wasn't as if Sam was really talking about what happened that day to anyone else at the moment, heck, Sam had hardly spoken at all since all this happened, Jamie hadn't really been over all week, and that had never happened before. An was grieving as well, but at least she was talking about how she felt with her friends, and even Jay Kanker, who had become another moral pillar for her when it came to her feelings as well as her brother's beatings.

Not only did he listen to her and comfort her when she felt that her friends were too upset to talk about it, but he kept his mouth shut about Sam's violent tendencies to the police. Although he agreed with her friends that she should report her younger brother, he also understood why she wasn't doing so. As the youngest of three, Jay often was protected from punishment by his brothers over the years, while his crimes weren't nearly as cruel as Sam's (breaking a window, skipping class, getting into fights at school…), he told An that the moment she pressed charges, she was welcome to stay with him and his brothers until Sam calmed down (only if Anny or Double-N couldn't have her at their homes, after all, it was probably best to have girls stay with other girls instead of a small cramped space full of teenage boys…) or was in custody.

An hoped it wouldn't come to that and hoped that maybe by having him interact with her and their parents more, that maybe he might realize that they only wanted what was best for him and let them in… it probably wouldn't stop him from hitting her, but one thing at a time.

She cautiously knocked on her brother's door, "Sam?" she called softly.

"Go away, An, I'm busy." Her brother replied snappishly. She winced, but didn't move, "It's dinner time…"

"Put my food by the door." He ordered, "I'll get it later."

An hesitated, while he had been careful not to attack her since he'd been going to therapy, if she pushed him too much, he might just strike at her again…

She turned around and looked towards the steps, almost ready to leave, when she heard an angry cry and a crash coming from his room.

She clenched her fists, at this rate, she would lose her little brother to this obsession and maybe even to a murderer, and all because she was scared of getting hit. But not anymore! She turned back around, her expression one of determination as she knocked on the door again, harder this time.

An would not let her baby brother eat alone again tonight!

"Drop my food by the door and get lost, An!" her brother barked from behind the door in a threatening tone.

An took a deep breath and steeled herself, she would not let him scare her away or hurt her anymore, if he did, well, she'd defend herself. She would not back down. She would not run away in fear for her safety. He could kick, scream, shout, punch or bite all he'd like, but Sam was gonna be social and eat with them even if it took her all night!

"Don't you wanna eat with us?" She asked, hoping she could use sugar to attract… uh, um… whatever Double-N had said that one time… she couldn't remember, anchovies? "We're really worried about you, Baby Brother, would you pretty please with sprinkles and marshmallows on top come and eat with us?"

Silence.

"Sam?" she called, ready to knock on the door again only for her brother to open the door, surprising her as he looked her, obviously exhausted. He hadn't opened the door to her since the day he found Nate's body. "Do we have ice cream?" he asked, his voice sounding more tired in person than it had through the door. An brightened, "No, but Big Sister will get you some if you eat with us!" she promised, pleased that the sugar thing Double-N said before had worked. Sam hesitated for a moment, looking back at his door before looking at An, "Vanilla with chunks of chocolate fudge." He ordered firmly.

An smiled broadly and gave him an enormous hug before practically dragging him down the steps, crying out, "MOM! DAD! SAM IS GOING TO EAT WITH US!"

Sam looked back at his room, already regretting leaving it to eat with his family instead of looking at his Double-N shrine to give him a bit of a boost before getting his meal from outside the door and eating while working some more, but he hadn't had ice cream in a week and he actually could probably use a break tonight...

He bit back a sigh, resigning to the fact that he would _have_ to eat with his family, then he would get An to get him that ice cream before slipping back up into his room to enjoy while soaking in Double-N's cute gap toothed smile for a little bit and then get back to work.

After all, she said she'd get him ice cream if he ate dinner with them, she never said that he had to eat dessert with them too.

.

.

.

Karen stomped onto school grounds Tuesday morning, still angry, hurt and annoyed that the cops still haven't figured out who killed Nate yet. While she wasn't Sherlock Holmes or anything, she _did_ know that there was a very good suspect that the police hadn't even considered yet:

 _ **Larie Kanker.**_

No one could account for his whereabouts after he and Nate separated from the others during gym! He was the last one to see Nate alive before his body was found! He had no alibi during the time of the murder! No one saw him during this time and no one could confirm his story!

Yet the police seemed to overlook all these things because her fingerprints were on the murder weapon and she kinda sorta had a rep for being a girl who got what she wanted or else. He could have easily framed her for this, so why wasn't anyone questioning _him_? Or giving _him_ fearful looks when he passed through the halls? Or whispering about _him_ before quickly clamming up when glared at or passed? Why was _she_ the only one getting this treatment?

She scowled as she stomped through the grounds, too angry to notice Sam quietly stalking behind her with a notebook and a pen, "Stupid Kanker… he probably swiped the knife I was using in cooking class to frame me!" she growled. Sam took the info down and slid towards the middle school building while she continued onto the high school building.

After her first class she hid in the bathroom on the second floor to be alone for a while, like she had been doing since Nate died. Only, unlike the first week she had done it, it wasn't to mourn his passing, no, it was to resign to the fact that she hadn't done any of her homework and the teacher had taken her aside before class to explain that, while she understood that she was grieving the passing of a friend and classmate, it did _not_ give her an excuse to not do her homework and she expected it to be completed and on her desk by the end of the school day or her grades would take a serious dive.

Karen didn't wanna sit down and try to work out a week's worth of homework, but she didn't want to invoke her mother's wrath for her grades going down, even if it _was_ partly due to grief and partly due to the fact that her lackies weren't 'helping' her with her homework anymore. What was she gonna do? It was bad enough that the class thought she was a murderer and she lost most of her friends and all of her power over others due to it, but her mom would never let her see the light of day ever again until she got her grades back up… and she'd probably make sure she went to tutors and such to make sure her grades didn't go back down again, taking away her much needed time to relax from school.

She groaned as she pondered about simply skipping the rest of her classes by getting all her homework done in the library, when the Ans came into the bathroom together. Double-N had a satchel over her shoulder, no doubt holding all the books and notes she would need for the next class, Anny had her make up bag and An just had a doofy grin on her face.

They stopped chatting and laughing the minute they saw her in the bathroom and An slipped into a stall to do her business while Double-N washed her hands in a sink on the other side of the room while Anny took the sink beside her and put another coat of lipstick on her enormous mouth, making sure neither friend was attacked while they were in there by glancing back and forth between all the girls in the room via the mirror.

Karen scowled at them as she turned on the water and stuck her hands in, as if needed to wash them, when she caught a glimpse of Double-N and remembered that she had the best grades in school. And while they had not had the _best_ history ever, the girl enjoyed helping people with their homework and would often tutor their classmates, but there was still a possibility that the girl would refuse to help her. So how could she 'convince' her to do her homework for her and finish it by the end of the day?

"Hey Double-N," She called, resisting the urge to make fun of her nickname as she turned to her, "I've got one day to do a week's worth of homework, you mind helping me out?"

The girl jumped at the sound of her voice and was surprised that she had called her by her usual nickname instead of calling her 'Double-Nerd' or 'tramp' or something similarly unsavory. She then asked, "By helping you out, do you mean letting you borrow the copy of notes I keep for those who need it or are you asking me to do your homework for you?"

Karen paused, considering, while having Double-N do her homework for her would be ideal, the girl's handwriting would easily give away the fact that she had not done it herself, while using the girl's notes would be pretty helpful in getting the work done, but it wouldn't mean that she would get all the answers right. She was torn: have everything done right with a big risk of having the teacher discover that she'd had Double-N do it for her or use Double-N's notes which wouldn't insure that all the answers would be right, but there would be no doubt that she had done the work herself.

"Because if you expect me to do your homework for you, you are sorely mistaken!" the nerdy An said sternly as the dopey An exited the stall with a flush and toilet paper wrapped around her and her arms out chuckling and saying that "I am a mummy!"

"Got that right!" Anny agreed firmly as she grabbed an end of the toilet paper and spun her simply friend around, making her laugh as she drilled a hole through the floor, leaving Anny with a handful of unrolled toilet paper and the three remaining girls looking down into the hole with momentary concern, only for it to quickly fade as they all remembered that it was An who had just done that.

"I will loan you my spare notes, but that is it. I will _not_ do your homework for you." She said, unyieldingly, her arms crossed.

Karen opened her mouth, ready to threaten to tell the cops about the crushes that all three Ans had on Nate when they were younger and that the Kankers were covering for them due to the crushes the brothers had for the three and give the cops reason to suspect them… only for An to spin back up behind her, "THOSE WHO PICK ON DOUBLE-N WILL FACE THE MUMMY'S CURSE!" she cried before she wobbled around a bit and collapsed on top of her, "I see stars…" she said with a chuckle.

"Get off me, tramp!" Karen demanded, pushing the girl off of her. Ann and Anny quickly pulled their friend on to her feet before Anny explained that either Karen borrow the spare notes or she was on her own with the homework. Karen scowled at them, but recalled that the Ans always stuck together and that Nate's death had only made the three stick together even more than before. And she couldn't risk Anny or An messing up her homework, or worse, writing on the homework that she had made Double-Nerd do it for her. So she sighed, "I'll take the notes…"

"Smart move, Shovel Chin." Anny said with a smirk. Double-N pulled a notebook out of her satchel and handed it to her, "you may return it when you have completed your homework." She instructed.

Karen opened her mouth, briefly considering thanking the tramp, only for her to quickly reconsider, "Whatever." She huffed with a roll of her eyes as she flipped through the notebook with a bored expression.

The brightest An had their tunneling friend wash her hands before the largest and loudest of the three herded them out of the bathroom to leave her alone again.

Karen looked at the notebook, tucked it under her arm, went back to class, grabbed her stuff and made her way to the library.

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Thanks to Double-N's notes, Karen had finished her homework close to the end of lunch time and delivered her completed homework before the deadline and walked back to the classroom with her lunch and her things only for her to be greeted by sudden silence and fearful-slash-accusing looks pointed in her direction. She stomped into the room towards the table where the brainy An sat with her fellow Ans and the Kanker brothers, threw Double-N's notebook onto her desk, making her lunch fly into the air. The girl scrambled to save her lunch only for Anny to catch it in mid air for her, scowling at Karen, "Yer welcome, bitch." She snapped.

Karen gave her an angry pout in response before stomping up the stairs, down the hall and into the bathroom to eat her lunch, _again_. Anger overwhelming her senses, giving her tunnel vision as she dashed towards her usual bathroom, she even bumped into someone and snapped at them before finally getting inside, found it empty, avoided the hole in the floor, took a seat in an empty stall, closed and locked the door and began eating her lunch. Ignoring the bell for the next class as she munched on her lunch.

To think, the week before last, she had a gaggle of friends to eat with in the courtyard, now she was forced to eat in an empty bathroom stall just to get some peace from the accusing stares. Oh, how far she had fallen.

She took a bite of her food as she began thinking about why Nate had gone up to the roof. Was it really because of her letter? Had he actually felt the same about her as she felt about him?

She frowned bitterly and stabbed at a sausage and shoved it into her mouth, it didn't matter now, he was dead. If he did or didn't really didn't matter since he wasn't around anymore… but he _had_ to of felt the same or else he wouldn't have gone up there at all, right?

Ugh! Why was she still dwelling on this? She could be thinking about how to prove that her best suspect had more of a reason to kill Nate than she did to the police, but instead she was dwelling on if he had planned to accept a confession from her or to turn her down! She put her lunch down on her lap and placed her fingers to her temples and began focusing on the blue haired Kanker so hard that she had no idea that another person had entered until the lights had gone out, making her jump in surprise and making her lunch fly into the air and splat onto her skirt.

"No!" she yelped, unable to get up at the moment due to her lunch sitting on her lap, "Turn the lights back on!" she exclaimed as she began blindly wiping at her skirt, wincing as her fingers touched the invisible remains of her lunch.

To her relief, the person turned the lights back on….

Then back off again.

"STOP!" she cried, frantically wiping at her skirt, "THERE'S SOMEONE STILL IN HERE!" She was in such a panic that she had no idea that the person hadn't left until she felt something cold and wet fall onto her, making her soaking wet. She let out a scream that was unlike her ("KYAAA!") before what had happened became clear to her.

"Did someone _really_ just throw water on me?" she asked out loud in disbelief as the sound of fleeing footsteps, "Why would someone do this?" She actually had a good idea of _why_ someone would do this to her, recently she'd found hate mail in her locker and in her desk from kids she had picked on before who were most likely unable to touch her before due to her popularity with the students and the teachers and the fact that she could use her family's fortune to make any who opposed her miserable. But as to _who_ had done this she had no idea. She groaned and decided to figure this out later, first things first, "I need to turn the stupid lights back on…" she said as she got up with a wince as she stepped on bits of her lunch that hadn't gotten all over her skirt and began feeling around the door to find the latch to free herself, her body soaking wet. She made it to the sinks, where she knew the switch was on the wall next to the last one, but couldn't seem to find it.

"Where is it?" she asked, annoyed as she felt around, grabbing a faucet while letting her free hand roam the wall until she found the switch…

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Sam visited his sister's class briefly during lunch, claiming that he forgot his at home and asked his sister for some lunch money. She gave him a worried look, probably concerned that her 'baby brother' (ugh! He hated it when she called him that, he wasn't a baby for Pete's Sake!) would go hungry, and dug into her bag while he took this opportunity to look around the room, knowing that An had class with the Kanker brothers due to her talking about how they had stopped Karen from harassing Double-N, and when she had talked about missing Video Game club but still had been enjoying Jay Kanker's company during lunch when they'd sit together and swapping comics from home with him. _That_ comment lead to their mother throwing a barrage of questions at her about this Jay Kanker, pressing her for details that she sparingly gave before shouting that she needed to get Sam his ice cream and nearly ran through the door to go get it in the middle of dinner. While Sam sat downstairs with his parents and An, when she returned with his fudge ice cream, he actually was glad he had come down, even if it was just to watch his sister fidget under their mother's gaze as she pried for details about the blonde Kanker when she returned with the ice cream and making him chuckle at her discomfort. Served her right for trying to get out of such an embarrassing (for her) and humorous (to him) discussion!

Hopefully for him, Jay Kanker wasn't the one Karen was referring to as the one who framed her, or else he wouldn't get to see his mother pry more details out of An, or even better, invite him for dinner and _then_ begin to ask questions about their relationship! Oh _man_ , that would be _priceless!_

"We're back!" A voice called, snapping Sam out of his flashback before he and the Ans turned to see the infamous Kanker brothers standing in front of them. Sam had been in an elementary school close to the Kanker brothers' old middle school, he'd heard the rumors about the three violent, unstoppable boys, but it was hard to think about those old rumors while watching Jay sweetly pass his sister a bottle of soda and a thick comic book from his back pocket and make her flush before passing Anny and Double-N their preferred beverages from the bag.

"Thank you for purchasing them for us, we'll pay you back…" His crush began.

"Don't worry about it, Double-N" Larie said as he and his brothers pulled their desks over so they could all eat together, "It's the least we could do since you've been lending me yer stuff."

"Why is she lendin' you her stuff?" Sam asked, reminding them all that he was still here and making An go back to searching through her bag, trying to find some money to loan her brother for lunch.

" _Karen_." The brothers said in unison. "Bitch keeps blaming Larie for the fact that everyone thinks she killed Nate." Tee explained, pointing to Larie's desk, "She's been messing up Larie's desk, trying to get the class to insult him and even tried messing with his homework a few times."

"Yeah, she also throws stuff at him and messes with his school supplies!" Jay piped in, "She ruined four notebooks in two days!"

"Yeah," Larie grumbled as he scratched at a nasty message on his desk with his fingernail, "As if doing all this crap ta me for saying she did it somehow is supposed ta make her look innocent…"

It was silent for a moment before Sam felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see An smiling softly at him as she offered a wrinkled bill with an unidentifiable stain on it to him and urged him to go grab some lunch and head back before class started. He nodded and took the bill from her hand before slipping out. He quickly walked down to the high school cafeteria, ordered his lunch (since that stupid loud mouth Anny would kill him if she found out he had taken his sister's money even though he actually HAD NOT forgotten his lunch at home and not used it to buy food for himself) quickly ate it there and walked all the way back to the middle school building, dragging his feet so he could take his time thinking while walking to class.

He now knew which Kanker Karen believed to be the murderer, the only thing he didn't know was _why_ he did it… And how did he get Jamie to join him? Did he threaten her or something? He nearly walked into Karen on his way back to the middle school building, leading for her to snap at him to 'Watch it, dork!'

While she had given him a lead as to the identity of the killer, that didn't stop Sam from flipping her off once her back was turned to him. He walked a little more before realizing that Karen might help reveal something else helpful to him and turned back and crept close to the wall and watched her stomp up the steps, Sam waited a minute before following her upstairs… and for him to stop outside the girl's bathroom door.

'Welp,' he thought as he stared at the doorway into the forbidden den of females, 'guess I can talk to her after school about why she suspects Larie.' And with that, he went back to walking towards his class, slowly, he had just passed from the high school into the library when the lights suddenly dimmed and his stomach began to sink when they brightened again.

"I don't like this…" he said, debating if he should check on Karen in the girl's room or if he should go back to class... He finally decided to go back to class, hoping that the feeling he had growing in his stomach was wrong.

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The class after lunch was science, which took place in a lab on the second floor today, they were taught how to separate the hydrogen and oxygen in salt water and with radio waves and heat to start a fire and remake the water due to hydrogen burning, which makes water.

This complicated chemistry experiment led to Larie's lab coat catching on fire and his brothers having to put him out by throwing buckets of fresh water from the sinks on him and getting him soaking wet.

He knew they were doing something with fire this week, so he snagged a pair of gloves and a screwdriver he had snagged from the supply closet in the back of the science classroom while grabbing his lab coat with his classmates and slipped both of them into his pants pockets while no one was looking and allowed his coat to catch fire so he would be soaking wet and excused to change into his gym uniform.

He made sure that no one saw him as he quietly opened the door and glanced around the room, taking note of the two big holes in the floor that could be a possible escape route if another girl came in after him before getting to work. Due to all of the students having to clean both the girl's and boy's bathroom at least once since school had started, Larie knew that the light switch was between the door and the sinks and mirrors. He had quietly unscrewed the cover with the screwdriver and turned off the lights.

"No!" he heard her yelp, "Turn the lights back on!" He smirked with an immature delight as he turned the lights back on and then turned it back off again and slip inside and begin to fill the bucket the kid had left for him by the sink as she cried, "STOP! THERE'S SOMEONE STILL IN HERE!"

He quietly placed the stool near the stall where Karen's voice was calling from, hopped up the stepstool the kid had left him and poured the bucketful of water onto her head, making her cry out before squinting down the nearest hole, smiling when he saw that someone had placed a ladder under the hole, most likely so someone could fix it, and that no one was there. He heard her moving around in the stall and carefully and quickly climbed down the hole, down the ladder and slipped out of the girl's bathroom to collect his gym uniform.

He knew his plan had worked when the lights dimmed for a bit while he was on his way to the boy's bathroom to change. He could see his own impish smile in the mirror once he went into the boys bathroom to change into his gym clothes and made sure to hide it behind a neutral expression as he gathered his wet clothes and lab coat and the gloves, wrapped the wet uniform in paper towels, dropped it off and returned to the classroom to return the lab coat to the supply closet along with the screwdriver and slipping the gloves into special trash can that they put their used chemical covered gloves in so they wouldn't seem out of place and would be disposed of properly, making sure to confirm that he had noticed the lights flicker too, and that it was so weird.

After that class, a bunch of girls went to the bathroom together before heading back to the first floor… only to run out of the bathroom, pale as sheets, screaming bloody murder, dragging the first teacher they could find into the girl's bathroom. Larie's class gathered around the bathroom and waited for someone to leave, their faces grim. The girls came out of the bathroom, looking as if they'd seen ghosts and clinging to one another.

"What did you see in there?" Jenny asked them when they were all out in the hall.

It took a moment before one of them finally break through the obvious shock they were going through, and informed them in a shaky voice that, "Karen is dead… It looks like she's been electrocuted..."

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The teachers had guarded the body again until the police arrived and took over, which was hard because somehow the press had found out about there being a second dead body at Peach Creek Academy and spread the word, filling the entrance with reporters and concerned parents once more. After clearing a path, they quickly got the coroner in to inspect the body and got the poor dead girl out as soon as possible so the press wouldn't make a spectacle out of her as the second murdered child from Peach Creek Academy.

Since they already had everyone's fingerprints from last week, they could spend more time on gathering evidence, searching the grounds, questioning everyone and getting information from the lab again. Here's what they managed to find this time:

Death was from electrocution, she was soaking wet when she had placed her hand on a metal faucet and a light switch with no cover at the same time. Burn marks on her fingers and her body still twitching and the condition of her hair showed as much. She had food all over her lap and there was some on the floor of a nearby stall as well as a huge puddle of water.

There was a bucket and a step stool inside the bathroom as well as a hole in the floor with a ladder underneath it. The staff explained that students would often ask each other to take those supplies from one bathroom to another when it was their classes' turn to clean one, so those things being there weren't very out of the ordinary. As for the hole… well… An accidently spun through the floor again, making two holes in the floor, so the school caretaker had placed a ladder there to begin repairs, only for Jenny to have gotten her head stuck in a bush after falling backwards again and he had to help the nurse get her out and forgotten the ladder there. The staff explained it as if both situations were normal, every day occurrences, but the officers were of a completely different opinion about that.

The caretaker said that while the electricity was cut off to the bathroom below, the bathroom where the victim had died had no trouble with it's power, so there would be no reason for the cover of the light switch to be removed and on the floor like it was. There were no fingerprints on the switch (besides the victim's), cover, bucket, or the ladder, there were multiple fingerprints on the door, but since girls came and went from the bathroom frequently, it was difficult to find anything useful on the door. There was no DNA, no footprints, no nothing. Nothing to point the blame to anyone here. Last time they were here, someone made sure that all the evidence pointed to Karen, this time there was no evidence pointing a finger at anyone in particular.

They asked around, seeing if she had gotten into any quarrels with any students, only to learn that most of the students stopped spending time with her since she was believed to have killed Nate last week. She blamed her sudden fall from popularity on Larie Kanker, the one who suggested that she might have murdered Nate Van Bartonschmeer in the first place, and began taking her anger at her sudden outcast status on him. She'd throw things at him, mess with his desk, break his things etc. The boy was annoyed by her actions, but mostly ignored her, she nearly started on An with one N, Anna Marie and Anny, but the rest of the class put their foot down on Friday, telling her to knock it off or else.

She seemed to heed this warning but they needed to be sure…

So they decided to go through her last day:

According to various witnesses, the victim was present during their first class of the day, but the teacher told them that she had been neglecting her homework and that she had given her a deadline to have all of her homework completed and on her desk by the end of the school day.

An, Anna Marie and Anny reported that they had seen the victim in the bathroom where she would later be found dead between their first and second class while walking to their next class. They told the officers that the victim told them about the homework and asked Anna Marie for help. Anna Marie clarified that she would loan her notes to the victim, but she would not do her homework for her and after the victim agreed to accept only the notes and An had tunneled through the floor, the girls left her behind in the bathroom to go to class.

When asked why she was so specific about only loaning her notes, Anna Marie explained that, back before the victim had been suspected of murder, she often had her friends do her homework for her. She apparently had also made _her_ do her homework back when they were in middle school, under the threat of beating her and her friends up or destroying something precious to one of the three, and refused to allow herself to end up doing the girl's homework again just because she didn't feel like doing the work.

According to the school librarian, the victim had sat in the library for a long time, swearing under her breath and scribbling on sheets of paper, which the teacher informed them that she found on her desk when she came back from lunch.

She wasn't back in class again until halfway through lunch according to her classmates, where she walked in, realized that everyone was giving her funny looks and threw Anna Marie's notes onto her desk so hard that it made her lunch launch into the air to be caught by her friend and then stomped out. Sam, An with one N's little brother and the one who found the previous victim's body, was heading back from the high school cafeteria after eating a lunch that he had paid for by borrowing some money from his sister since he forgot his lunch at home, when the victim bumped into him and said something nasty before heading up the steps.

Sam admitted to the officers that he really hadn't forgotten his lunch. His sister had mentioned that she was becoming close to one of her classmates, Jay Kanker, and he wanted to see if his sister was in a relationship with this boy or not and, well, the last time he spent time with him he was sobbing in his sister's arms after finding a body and it's hard to get a feel for those sorts of things in that situation.

Sam was the last person to see her alive before her body was found by several of her classmates who were going to go to the bathroom before their next class.

If they were looking at this incident along, it looked like a bit of bullying gone deadly, if there hadn't been a murder at this school a week earlier, they would have just written it off as such…

But there _had_ been another murder, and the victim this time was the person the murderer had tried to frame last week. And the same people had been there when it happened. The police had nothing to hold any of them on, so they let them all go home, but they asked for the records of all the students who the victim had been near in her last hours of life while searching their archives to see if they could find any information on any of those kids to get a new lead as to who this killer was before they killed again.

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Anny barely managed to keep herself and her friends together to answer the detective's questions. They first told them about the times they had seen her earlier and then the detectives began asking questions, like why there was a hole in the floor and if the light switch in the bathroom's cover had been removed when Double-N had loaned her notes earlier. They asked if she had been picking on anyone and such, they told the truth about her messing with Larie Kanker but stressed that he had not done anything other than snap at her to get over herself and to get a real hobby, there had been no death threats or anything. After a few more questions, the girls were free to go home for the day. The Ans walked home with Sam, Jamie, Jenny, Rachel and the Kanker brothers walked part of the way with them before splitting from the group and heading in a different direction home.

The Ans went to Double-N's house, since while her parents had come home the Sunday after the murder, they weren't due home until late. All three girls called their parents, informing them what happened and that they were in Double-N's house before the three of them just sat around in her living room, alone and silent, since her parents were on their way home from work and it would take a while and none of them really wanted to be alone.

"I know I said I'd rather her get the chair…" Anny murmured, "But I didn't really wanna another murder to happen…"

"The Curse of the Mummy killed Karen…" An sniffled, feeling bad for the dead girl, even though she had never really been all that nice to them.

"No one wanted anyone to die," Double-N said, a slight tremor in her voice as she took their hands, "We just have to hope that the police can find the person doing all of this and bring them to justice."

"…But what if they don't?" An asked after a minute, she looked at her friends, "Baby brother hasn't left his room cause he wants to find the killer. What if he finds the killer and becomes another victim before the police catch him?"

Anny didn't say that the little shit would have it coming to him for beating and berating her for all these years. No, not after watching the cops carry a covered body out on a little cart into a van with the words, "Coroner" on it, she didn't feel as if she could say that someone would be better off dead… at least not for a very long time…

"They'll catch the murderer, An." Anny said, sounding much braver than she felt, "They have ta…" They looked at one another, unsure about what the next day would bring them. The three girls then pulled each other into a tight embrace, each of them silently praying that the killer would be caught and they could get the bodies they'd seen to stop haunting their dreams and that they would see no more death for as long as they lived. The last thing they prayed for was that they didn't see another dead body next week.

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Jamie laid on her bed, shocked and nervous.

When Jamie had heard how Karen died, she felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. How could she had not seen that? It was so simple. All you needed was a screwdriver, a bucket, water and a stepstool and to flip a switch. And she had supplied the bucket and stepstool. He didn't even need to stick around to see it happen! All he really had to do was quickly run in, unscrew the cover, turn off the lights, pour the water, and run out. How he got away with it she didn't know, but needless to say that telling the cops that wouldn't work. How was she supposed to explain how asking her for a bucket and a stepstool for a bathroom make him a killer? If anything, it just made him someone who asked for a bucket and stepstool, if anything, someone could have heard him ask her and use that for their advantage.

At least Sam hadn't found the body this time, it was a bunch of girls from the Ans' class who found it. But while she tried to talk to him on the way home and lighten the gloomy mood that seemed to hang over the group as they watched a police car zoom past them, probably to tell Karen's parents the same thing they had told Nate's parents last week, Sam said nothing and kept glaring at Larie as if…

Jamie sat up as a cold sweat began to overcome her, horrified.

No. Sam couldn't know it was Larie, he'd kill him! And if he knew it was Larie, he might figure out that she had been helping him! And if that happened, he'd never love her like she loved him. She had to convince Sam that he was wrong about Larie Kanker or risk either Larie killing him or Sam breaking her heart or both!

And none of those endings were acceptable to her.

Larie would have to get away with these two murders if she wanted her happily ever after, so she would have to do her best to convince Sam that Larie wasn't the killer.

"But how do I do that?" she asked herself out loud as she flopped back down onto her bed, "Find someone else to pin this on?" she paused, considering her words, then smiled, "Yeah, but who else could I pin this on?"

She pondered this question for the rest of the night.

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Sam looked at his Double-N shrine in his closet to calm himself. He was pissed that he hadn't gone back to check on Karen earlier that day, but he knew that he couldn't have saved her. She probably would have been dead the moment he burst in and made himself look guilty. He didn't know why Larie Kanker would kill Nate, he could understand why he'd kill Karen, she had been a pain in the ass. But still, she probably had a good reason to think that Larie Kanker was guilty of Nate's murder, but what if he only killed one of them and not both? What if Karen had been an accident? What if….

Sam groaned and shook his head, no, he was not gonna think about murder while looking at his Double-N shrine. He then recalled that he had a few great photos of Double-N that he took before Nate's murder that he hadn't gotten to add to his collection and smiled. He quickly connected his phone to the special printer that he bought with his allowance that could print from photos in his phone and eagerly reviewed the pictures while grabbing some sticky tape from a drawer only to stop dead in his tracks when he spotted a familiar blue haired boy watching Double-N from a behind a corner with a dazed expression on his face. Then it dawned on him:

 _Larie liked Double-N too_ …

Sam felt his knees give out beneath him as it suddenly all made sense...

Nate had been super close to Double-N before he died and he could kind of understand maybe getting him out of the way... and as for Karen, well, Karen was a bully and a jerk and treated all of the Ans like shit, if you also considered how she was bugging him, messing with his stuff and accusing him of murder… He could understand killing someone if they annoyed you to no end, he had thought about it a few times when An was super obnoxiously happy and loud and wouldn't leave him alone. He understood how someone messing with your stuff could make you mad too, he'd kicked An a few times for that. And, well, if someone was accusing you of a murder you did, you would want to get rid of them right?

But how had he done it? And how had he gotten Jamie to help him? Did he blackmail her or something?

Nah, the only secret Jamie has is a fridge full of peaches and cream in her garage and well, it wasn't really all that much of a secret… and not something that would compel her to work with a murderer…

He placed the newest photos of Double-N on the table and began glancing through them, he found signs of Larie in several of them in the ones where he would take pics of her on the way home.

He glanced at his shrine, wondering if Larie was in any of those photos…

After a moment, Sam bolted into his closet and began going from photo to photo, he found Larie in shots he took while she was on her way home, while she was out shopping, he wasn't in the shots he had managed to get while she was changing or the ones near her home. He was also only in photos from this year, nothing earlier than the first day the Ans had been in high school, which made sense, since the school had been a girls only one until this year.

So now he had the who and the why for the murders, now all he needed to figure out was the how he did these murders and why Jamie had gotten involved with a murderer.

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The next day was a somber one. The Ans walked through the school, sticking close to one another as they walked at a slower pace than they usual did.

Two people had died almost within week of one another in their school and because of these unsolved murders, the school seemed… well, for lack of a better word, _darker._

And it wasn't due to the dark clouds that hung over them, and kept the warm sun's rays from keeping them all from shivering from the occasional chilly wind.

The school seemed less colorful and inviting than it used to, the beautiful blossoming peach trees on campus were no longer a pretty shade of pink, but now seemed to be a dark reddish color that resembled drops of blood, making them become avoided by the students and teachers as they nervously scampered into the buildings, heads constantly moving back and forth, keeping an eye out for any signs of danger. Jumping at any sound or sudden movement near them, and gasping or crying out in surprise before realizing that they had been in no danger and had to pull themselves back together.

The hallways seemed dimmer and colder than they before, the sound of footsteps louder than they had ever been before as the three girls walked to homeroom, constantly glancing around as their legs trembled beneath them. They passed the bathroom Karen had died in and saw that the door was covered in yellow police tape Anny stopped for a moment, suddenly annoyed. Her friends froze at the sound of their friend's footsteps ceasing and quickly turned to her, fearful that she may have been snatched by the murderer until they saw her standing in the middle of the hallway, a scowl on her face.

"Anny?" Double-N called, concerned for her sudden stop with An hovering over her with a worried look.

"We are idiots." Anny groaned.

"What?" An asked, confused by the sudden accusation.

"Why the hell did we come to school today if there is some killer on the loose here?" Anny demanded, "Why didn't we stay home where it was safe?"

Her friends paused, considering her point, "That's a good point, Anny." The brainy An confirmed, "And while we're asking questions, why is school open today when we've had one murder and one highly suspicious death within such a short period of time? You'd think that after Nate…" she struggled for a moment, still unable to speak of the horrible fate to befall the kind blonde they'd grown up with, before An offered, "Went to a nice farm in the country?"

Anny and Double-N gave her a slightly confused look at the somewhat appropriate expression before remembering that this was AN they were talking about and Double-N said, "Uh, yes, I suppose that certainly is a way to put it, An…" she cleared her throat, "Anyways, as I was saying, you think that after Nate _went to a nice farm in the country_ that they'd have at least shut the school down for a day, but for some reason, we all returned to school as if nothing had happened, and now this strange phenomenon is happening again."

"So can we go home now?" An asked.

The three girls considered their options and debated ditching class until their homeroom teacher came up from behind them. Since she had not made a sound until calling out to them from right behind them, she scared the tar out of them. Once they finally calmed down, she then told them to hurry to the classroom and that she'd have an announcement to give them once everyone arrived before offering to escort them to the classroom for safety reasons, insuring that there was no chance to go back home until the end of the school day, much to their chagrin.

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Tee was slumped over his desk, half bored, half surprised they even showed up for school today when the teacher arrived with the Ans, took role (most likely making sure that no more of her students had been killed since yesterday) before telling them that until the killer was caught, they would be taking specific precautions:

Precaution #1: Afterschool clubs and sports would continue to be cancelled and that students were to go home immediately after classes ended in groups.

Precaution #2: Teachers will escort students to every class and students will wait in the classroom until a teacher arrives to escort them.

Precaution #3: If a student needs to leave the room at anytime, like to use the bathroom or go to the nurse, they must be accompanied by either a teacher or two other students.

Precaution #4: Students must either eat in the classroom or the cafeteria.

Precaution #5: Anything considered dangerous will be put under lock and key when not in use.

The list went on, but you got the picture, they were practically in prison. Which was almost funny to Tee, since their middle school advisor suggested they go to high school unless they wanted to end up in prison for the rest of their lives.

But two murders are no laughing matter… well, unless you're a psycho, which Tee wasn't.

He and his brothers decided to ask the Ans if they could walk them home on the way to their second class of the day, pointing out that there was safety in numbers and due to old reputations from their old school, they doubted anyone would mess with them if they were with them. The Ans accepted, grateful, and just when Tee and his brothers thought they could have some alone time with their crushes, Jenny and Rachel asked to join them as well.

Now, while they wanted to say no so they could have some alone time with the Ans, Rachel was a complete mess, feeling guilty for believing her friend was a killer and leaving her alone to be killed and Jenny had been very helpful to them by giving them information about the Ans and mixers, so when the Ans looked to them to make sure it was okay with them… they just couldn't say no… So they instead nodded their heads, finally saying that the more people they had, the safer they'd all probably be so it was fine with them, silently resigning to the fact that it was probably for the best that they waited a little longer to try and get one on one time with their lovely ladies and the eight of them stuck together for most of the day, helping Rachel with her grief… by watching her stuff her face with meatballs and cry out what sounded like words(?) that none of them were able to understand.

It was when they were all gathering their things when Jenny asked them if they'd all like to go to an amusement park together that weekend, when asked why the sudden invitation, she explained that, "After everything that's happened, I think we should have a day where we have a break from all the sadness and the grief and have some fun." She said.

"Oh! I like fun!" An cried cheerfully, her eyes bright with excitement as she began bouncing up and down.

"That'd be so cool! We've never been to one before!" Jay exclaimed, their eagerness beginning to lighten the somber mood around them.

"Yeah, plus, now we can all ride those roller coasters together!" Anny said with a puckish grin, "Can't say I'm too short to ride now!"

"You might be too tall." Tee teased. "No way!" Anny replied with a gentle nudge to his arm. "This the place with the fancy garden full of butterflies and stuff, right?" Larie asked her, Jenny nodded excitedly.

"Well, it certainly would be a welcomed break from the bleak atmosphere we've all been subjected to lately." Double-N agreed, then looked to Rachel, "But if you think you'll need a little more time to grieve, we can postpone…" The blue haired girl held her hand up to silence her as a small smile finally crawled up her cheeks, "In the old country, Rachel's village would hold a festivity to celebrate the lives of those who we had lost." She looked at the group as a whole and said, "While it is tradition to wait until those who have passed have been put to rest before celebrating, the Daughter of a Shepherd cannot wallow in sorrow for the dead forever, for it will do her no good. So she shall celebrate their lives and the joy they gave her before their passing at this park of amusement while waiting for the culprit of these horrible deeds to be caught. After that, we can have a proper celebration for our deceased friends, yes?

"That certainly sounds like a plan, Rachel." Double-N confirmed.

"Looks like we're all in." Tee said with a wide smile, "When do you all wanna do this?"

"My boyfriend has a bunch of free tickets for Saturday that he got from work, that a good day for everyone?" Jenny asked. After a chorus of 'yes'es, 'yup's, and 'that's fine with me's, they began making their way home, Sam and Jamie not too far behind them.

.

.

.

Jamie bit her lip as she glanced from Sam to Larie and back again. Judging by the look on Sam's face, she could tell that he had an issue with one of the Kanker brothers, she just hoped it was not the one she knew for a fact to be dangerous.

The blonde brother, whose name she never really got, gently tapped on his elder brothers shoulders and murmured something as he pointed back towards them.

Jamie felt as if her blood had suddenly gone ice cold, did Larie's brothers know something about her? Did Larie claim that she might know something about the murders or something? Did they know he committed them? What did they know about them that they couldn't say loud enough for them to hear? What? What! WHAT!?

The two glanced back at them for a moment, then shrugged and motioned towards Jenny. Causing more confusion for Jamie as he talked to her and got a 'right on' from Jenny, Jay then walked back towards them and said, "Hey, we're all gonna go to an amusement park this Saturday, you guys wanna come with us?"

Jamie felt relieved and then really excited, she loved the teacup rides and the cute little snack shops and…

" _ **No**_." Sam said firmly.

"Why not?" Jay asked.

"Yeah Sam." Jamie weighted in, "Why not? It sounds like fun!"

"Karen died just yesterday and you guys wanna ride roller coasters and play stupid booth games?" Sam said, aggravated. Rachel looked as if she had just been punched in the stomach and her head began to sink into her chest as she held herself while Jenny and Double-N began to do their best comforting her. An just stared at her brother as if he had smacked her while Anny and the Kanker brothers scowled at him for being insensitive and nasty.

"Hey, we're _tired_ of being _scared_ and _depressed_ all the time!" Anny snapped, stepping towards Sam with a scowl on her face, "Can you blame us? Two of our classmates who we grew up with were murdered! _In two weeks_!" She began jabbing him in the chest as he spoke. "The murderer _still_ hasn't been caught! The police and press have been crawling around the school and we can't have a moment of peace and despite all those guys around, we _still_ don't feel safe! We've been stressed, sad and I dunno about you, but I'm tired of being sad and feeling bad whenever I so much as crack a grin!" she shouted, lifting him off his feet by his collar. "So if you don't wanna go to the park with us, then good riddance, we don't need ya bringing all of us down. But don't you _dare_ give us shit for wanting to have something ta smile about after all the shit we've been through!" she snarled before throwing him back towards the ground, making him fall back a bit before throwing his arms out and regaining balance.

Anny stomped back towards the others and the high schoolers continued on their way home without them while Sam glared at Anny with coal red eyes and his fists clenched so tight that the skin between his knuckles began to crack.

"Sam?" Jamie squeaked, taking his attention away from the high schoolers and back to her. He took a few deep, calming breaths, then said, "Sorry, Jamie. It's just…" He glared back at the high schoolers and growled, "I just don't trust some of them…"

"W-What do you mean?" she asked, hoping he'd think she stuttered because she was now nervous at the thought of someone they knew doing something bad than her dreading hearing that Sam knew who killed Nate and Karen. He seemed to hesitate before he murmured, "I just don't trust those Kankers…"

"Why?" Jamie asked, trying not to seem to anxious while pointing out, "They haven't done anything to us, they only asked us if we wanted to go to the amusement park with them…"

"If you wanna go, _**go**_ **.** " He replied angrily as he stomped on ahead, "I won't stop you."

"W-Wait! Sam!" She cried as she dashed after him, he turned to her, his eyes void of any sympathy or sign of concern that would have normally been seen in his eyes when he stopped to see if she was panting like he did before these murders happened when she finally caught up. "I-I'll stay with you." She said sadly. He said nothing and simply turned and kept walking forward, Jamie hot on his heels.

.

.

.

Sam sat in his room, the pictures of Double-N surrounding him on his desk. He only had one photo where you saw Larie's face, the rest were maybe a bit of the uniform could be shown or some blue hair in a crowd behind her, so he only really had one picture as hardcore evidence. He _did_ have a photo of Nate being sweet to Double-N and a photo of Karen holding a handful of her hair and reeling back for a punch, but those wouldn't help him. He groaned, he couldn't use the pictures to prove that Larie had a reason to kill Nate and Karen. The again, using the pictures would be a bad idea anyway, because then he'd have to explain _why_ he had so many pictures of Double-N that she would have no recollection of being taken of her.

So he had to find another way to prove how and why Larie killed Nate, since that was the first murder… well, the first murder he knew of, anyway… Hopefully it was or Sam might need to come up with a plan to take him down, and while Sam was no push over, most of the people he had hit over the years hadn't hit back because either An stepped in to protect him or An was the one who he was hitting.

He had multiple papers strewed out on his desk as he scratched his head, Karen had suggested that Larie snatched the knife that she had used in cooking class earlier, but how come only her fingerprints were on it? Maybe he had oven mitts on in cooking class or used a towel or something, wait, Jamie had been helping the drama club, could she had left something out for Larie to use, like gloves or something? That might make sense… but there was no explanation as to how he managed to not get his fingerprints on the knife when he killed Nate… or how he wasn't covered in blood… or how he got a love note of Karen's if she threw it away…

He then recalled Jamie shoving something white into her bag with her hanky…

He felt his stomach drop. Not only had Larie got Jamie to pour water on him from the roof, but the love letter that lured Nate up to the roof was something he got from Jamie, but how did she get that? And how did Larie get her to give it to him? Or did he have her slip it into Nate's locker or something?

Ugh! He was going to be overrun with questions if he didn't remember the details of what had happened that day and organize them on a sheet of paper first. Then he could figure out how Larie had did it and then could have a timeline to show the police that, at the very least, that he was someone to look into.

He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair as he brought up the slightly hazy memories of the day he found Nate's body on the roof. It was pretty hard when the image of a dead body of someone you knew kept popping up like acne on a teenager's face. Then he remembered that he actually DID have a timeline of that day, he had put one together by questioning An and Jamie about what happened over meals. He eagerly reached for his notebook and began flipping through pages…

Knock, knock.

"Sam?" his sister's voice called from outside the door.

He growled, why couldn't that idiot just leave him the hell alone? He was trying to catch a murderer before he struck again and there she was, banging on his door and bugging him again! "I'm _busy_!" he shouted through the door.

"I just want to talk to you, can you open the door, please?" she asked.

Sam snarled as he pushed away from his desk and stomped so hard as he made his way to the door, that his parents, who had just come home, could hear him from the first floor and quickly snuck over by the stairs to see what was happening, hoping that their son wouldn't harm their daughter again.

He kicked open his door, making his sister leap back, frightened, "What do you want, _**stupid**_?" he demanded, his tone threatening. An winced a bit and backed away from him as she explained that, "I was going to ask if you really didn't want to go to the amusement park with us, because I could ask Jenny to get two extra tickets for you and Jamie to come along too…"

"I _said_ Jamie and I don't wanna go with you dummies to the amusement park!" he insisted, "Why don't you get that through your _fat head_?"

"But Jamie looked excited when Jay asked you guys if you wanted to come along, couldn't you just come with us for her sake?" An asked, "I mean, she'd do anything for you…"

"Jamie said she'd stay with me, An!" Sam snapped, shoving his sister backwards, "I don't want to go _anywhere_ with _you_ or those stupid Kanker brothers!"

To his surprise, An stiffened when he insulted the brothers and stood up straight and scowled at him in a way that was almost frightening, "TAKE THAT BACK!" she shouted, "JAY AND HIS BROTHERS AREN'T STUPID! THEY'RE NICE AND FRIENDLY AND YOU SHOULDN'T BE MEAN TO THEM!"

"I can treat them however I want!" Sam shouted back, "AND IF YOU KEEP YELLING AT ME, I'LL TELL MOM YOU CALLED ME NAMES AND PUNCHED ME!" he threatened, smirking victoriously at her.

But An didn't get on her knees and plead for him to not tell mom or cower in his shadow, his sister didn't even so much as flinch at his threat, "Fine." She said, crossing her arms, "I'll ask Jenny to only get a ticket for Jamie and _not you_!" she said, pointing her finger at him, "MEAN BABY BROTHERS DON'T _DESERVE_ TO DO FUN THINGS WITH FRIENDS! MEAN BABY BROTHERS SHOULD STAY IN THEIR ROOMS UNTIL THEY SAY SORRY!" She loudly declared. Sam growled at her and bit her finger, making her cry out in pain. "GET HIM OFF! GET HIM OFF!" She cried as she waved her hand up and down, trying to shake him off, Sam reeled back to give her a punch that would shut her up, only for him to hear something that made his blood go cold:

"SAM! YOU LET GO OF YOUR SISTER RIGHT NOW!" his mother demanded, one arm rigid at her side with her hand in a tight fist while pointing at the two of them, her face twisted in a furious scowl. Their father stood behind him, a frown that often was on their father's face when someone was about to be grounded… And Sam had a sinking feeling that that person would _not_ be An for once…

'Uh oh…' he thought as his sister stopped moving, probably due to hearing their mothers voice and assuming she was in trouble for something, and he opened his mouth and freed her finger before blurting out, "AN STARTED IT!"

"DON'T YOU _**DARE**_ LIE TO ME, SAM!" their mother roared, "WE HEARD EVERYTHING YOU JUST SAID!"

"Everything?" he squeaked.

"You've been using us as a threat so your sister would do what you said?" their father asked, his voice so angry and his expression so frightening that Sam was getting chills. An just stood beside him, clutching her throbbing finger, shocked that she wasn't in trouble for once.

"Well? We're waiting." Their mother said, her pose and tapping foot informing him that she had little patience at the moment, so trying to back out of this situation was out of the question.

"I, uh, you see…" he tried to think of something, anything that he could use as an excuse to get him out of this, come on, something that An did that might get her into trouble, anything…

" _Sam_ …" their mother warned.

"SHE WAS GOING TO GO OUT WITH HER FRIENDS TO AN AMUSEMENT PARK THIS WEEKEND!" he blurted, quickly judging by the look on their parent's faces, his excuse wasn't good enough, so he added that, "IT'S ONLY BEEN A DAY SINCE KAREN DIED AND THEY'RE GOING TO AN AMUSEMENT PARK?"

"We're tired of being sad!" An cried out, tears beginning to form in her eyes, "We just want everything to be like it used to, but… but…!" Their mom pulled An into a tight, warm hug, that surprised both children, "Shhh… We understand, Sweetheart, it's painful to grieve for one person, let alone two in such a short period of time and with all the things you're going through right now, we understand if you just want to have some fun and smile again." An's lip began to quiver from what Sam either guessed was relief that their mother understood or happiness that they believed her for once and she wasn't in any trouble. She began to bawl into her apron while their mom cooed comforts and stroked her hair.

Their Dad glared at Sam, "Your sister only wanted to be nice and offer you a chance to join her and her friends for some fun, and you yell at her, threaten her and _bite_ her?"

"But-, I-, she-!" Sam ransacked his mind to find something, anything to turn this around and blurted out the first thing to come to his mind, "SHE'S SO _**ANNOYING!**_ " He exclaimed, "SHE'S ALWAYS ASKING ME QUESTIONS AND DOING STUPID ANNOYING THINGS AND BUGGING ME AND NEVER GIVING ME ANY SPACE AND BEING STUPID AND CALLING ME HER 'BABY BROTHER'! I AM _NOT_ A BABY! I'M SO TIRED OF HEARING HER STUPID LAUGH AND SEEING HER STUPID HAPPY FACE AND-!" His father silenced him with an intimidating frown that he had seen only one other time on his sister's face when she got a pebble in her shoe, "Sam, you're _grounded_." He said firmly.

" _WHAT_?!" he cried.

"You heard me, you're grounded." He said simply, an undertone in his voice telling Sam that this was not to be questioned again unless he wanted his punishment extended and more unpleasant, "You will _ **not**_ treat your sister like this anymore."

Sam opened his mouth, then quickly closed it, figuring that since he obviously had nothing to say in his own defense and that he'd probably gonna be stuck in his room all day, which is what he had been doing since Nate died, so it would be best for him to keep his mouth shut.

"All we've seen her be lately is nice to you, but you scream at her, you hit her and you apparently _bite_ her," His dad continued, indicating the bite mark on his sister's swelling finger, "It's getting to a point where I'm wondering if you've been lying to us all this time about how she's been treating you. I'm thinking that your sister treats you like a prince and in return, you act like a royal pain in the ass. So, until you start treating your sister right, you're grounded, which means no TV, no books, no music, no toys, no cell phone, no computer, no ditching meals with us and no dessert AND you have to clean your sister's bathroom."

"But that's not fair!" Sam whined, quickly covering his mouth to stop him from making it worse.

"You should count yourself lucky that we aren't taking your stairs away like we did with your sister." Their mother hissed as she rubbed her crying child's back, "And the only reason we're not doing that is because we sleep on the second floor too, and we're not going to suffer because you're acting like a spoiled brat!"

Sam winced and looked at his parents and saw nothing but anger, disappointment and no mercy. He bowed his head, confirming that he had heard them and quietly walked back into his room and began gathering the items his father said he could no longer have (since he didn't want his family to discover his closet shrine (his closet doors were closed, so they wouldn't see them if they walked in, but still, he had plenty of pictures on his desk that could be questioned if seen) and his collection of Double-N photos in his phone, which he would have to delete, but before he could, his parents stomped in and snatched all the now forbidden items in his hands and quickly stormed out of the room, not noticing the photos on his desk. He felt rage boil in his belly when he spotted his sister smiling a bit through her tears as she scampered behind their parents down the hall and the steps, obviously pleased that Sam was in trouble for his own actions for once.

Sam, feeling as if he had been kicked in the stomach, sat down at his desk and cradled his head, he would look through all his notes tomorrow for that timeline, right now, he needed to grieve the loss of his power over An, because, knowing her, she would only become more annoying over time and that eventually, even his Double-N shrine wouldn't be able to calm him down.

He banged at his desk with his fists, why the hell didn't Larie kill his sister instead of Nate or Karen? If he had done that, Sam would have only wanted to find out who did it to thank him, not turn him in.

He sighed as he folded his arms and let his head fall into it, oh well, maybe if he solved this murder, his parents might forget how he'd been treating An and things could go back to how they had been, with him being their favorite and An back under his thumb where she belonged.

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.

.

Wednesday night had been rough when Sam said all those nasty things about her, but she was glad that her parents finally believed her and were on her side, and while she kinda felt bad that he was now grounded, when she called her best friends and told them what happened (after to addressing her aching finger), Double-N had said, "I'm very glad your parents finally realize how sweet and wonderful you are, An and while you may feel a bit bad about your brother getting into trouble, you shouldn't. Unlike you, Sam deserves his punishment and hopefully it will help change his ways and help him become a better person."

"Doubt it." Anny said flatly, "But it's about time Sam got what was coming to 'em for how he's been treatin' ya, and if he ends up being locked up in his room for the rest of his life, then karma has finally done it's job."

She and her parents also had a heart to heart that really helped make Sam's nasty words sting less after she was done talking to her friends. Dinner had been awkward, but while Sam was obviously still annoyed that he now was required to be nicer to his sister instead of putting on an act until they were out of sight, but he had been civil towards her, and An was content with that.

After dinner, Sam went back up to his room, sulking, while An was about to leave to ask Jamie if she wanted to go to the amusement park with them (since Sam was now grounded, she doubted that he could go now even if he wanted to) when her mother suddenly asked where she was going. She was surprised, but happily informed her that she was going to Jamie's house and maybe Jenny's and that she'd be back in a bit.

Jamie had been surprised to see her on her doorstep, she was even more surprised that An asked if she wanted a ticket to the amusement park, because she could ask Jenny if she could get one for her. Jamie brightened, "Is Sam coming?" An winced, "No, he has been grounded."

"Grounded?" she said, probably just as surprised as An had been when her Dad had said it, "For what?"

"Threatening me and biting me." She replied, showing the girl her bandaged finger, Jamie's eyebrows rose higher on her face before scrunching down in a pensive expression, biting her lip. "I won't tell Sam that you came with us." An promised, remembering Sam saying that Jamie had said she would stay with him and knowing how hurt both of them would be if Sam found out she went without him, "And he is grounded, even if he wanted to go, he can't because he is grounded."

Jamie fidgeted a bit, it was obvious that she wanted to go, but she also didn't want to betray Sam by doing so. After a few minutes of silence she finally spoke, in a quiet voice, "Um… w-when are you all going again?"

An beamed, "Saturday, is that okay?" she asked, bouncing on her toes in excitement, Jamie and Sam were good friends, but Jamie had always been nicer to An than her brother had been, which if you asked Anny or Double-N 'wasn't really saying much' but Jamie would enjoy the trip and it wasn't fair that Sam had denied her the chance to have some fun because he was grumpy.

"I have a doctor's appointment in the morning, but I can meet you there in the afternoon." She said softly, "Is that okay?"

An smiled and gently ruffled her hair, "Okie dokie! I'll let Jenny know and get you your ticket, okay?"

"Okay An." Jamie replied as she began fixing her hair. An turned to head to Jenny's when Jamie called out, "An?" An turned, curious. "If Sam asks if you saw me on Saturday…"

"I didn't!" An cheerfully replied, making Jamie sigh with relief before waving and saying, "Thanks An! Good night!"

"Night Jamie!" An said as she waved back before the frail girl closed her door and An walked towards Jenny's house.

Apparently, Jenny had agreed with An about it not being fair that Sam had said that Jamie couldn't go, so she had already asked her boyfriend to get nine tickets and he was going to bring a friend as well. An smiled and thanked Jenny for being so nice and getting Jamie a ticket before heading back towards home.

"An, wait!" An turned again, sensing a pattern for a moment before it faded into the chaotic mess of her mind, "Hm?" she replied. "Aren't you gonna ask for one for Sam too?" An shook her head, "He cannot go because he is grounded!"

"Well sucks to be him then." Jenny replied before wishing An a good night that she returned before walking home. All things considered, it had been a pretty good day today and she had a feeling that the next few days would be even better.

And she had been right.

Thursday and Friday had been great for An, her parents had been extra sweet and nice to her, her mom had even made her pancakes on Friday morning! And her baby brother didn't threaten to sock her if she didn't stop loudly singing, "PANCAKES! PANCAKES! PANCAKES!" like she usually did as her mother brought her a big stack of them with syrup poured into a big old happy face for her.

School had been getting better too, the police had told the school that the press would be kept far away from the entrances of the school so the students could recover from their grief without the press opening the fresh wounds of the recent deaths to them and they'd make more rounds for their safety.

Apparently, the Kanker brothers had planned to walked their group _**to**_ school as well as from school, so An got to enjoy some more time with Jay Kanker, which made her happy as happy could be as they swapped comics and chatted.

Sam and Jamie walked a few feet behind them, Sam looking angry while Jamie tried to get him to talk with her and get his mind off of whatever was making him angry with no success. An felt a bit bad for Jamie, but decided to help her have such a good time on Saturday that she would forget how grumpy her baby brother had been to her.

Saturday morning, An woke up with a wide smile on her face at the sound of her friends knocking on her bedroom door, "Rise and shine, An!" Double-N sang from the other side of the door. "Yeah, we don't wanna be late!" Anny called.

An leapt from her bed and opened the door, Double-N was wearing a nice lavendar dress with a white belt and matching sweater and shoes while Anny wore a cute yellow top with a red belt and jeans that showed off her curves in all the right places. Both had a little make up on, nothing too showy, Anny had her purse over her shoulder and Double-N had her purse over her shoulder and a boxed lunch in her hands. "Hiya guys!" she greeted as she gave them a big hug.

"A-An!" Double-N croaked, unable to keep much air in her lungs do to the force of their simple friend's hug but somehow managing to pull a hand free to cover her nose, "Have you bathed recently?" An paused, her lip pulled into a thoughtful pout as she tried to remember. Then she forgot what she was trying to remember and announced that, "I forgot Double-N!"

"Ya might wanna do that, Lumpy, don't wanna scare Jay Kanker off with that smell, do ya?" An shook her head before letting her friends go and racing towards her bathroom, "AND USE WATER, NOT GRAVY!" Double-N insisted.

"AWW!" An cried from the bathroom.

"Ya don't have to use soap." Anny offered.

"YAY!" An cheered.

"Anny!" Double-N scolded. "What?" Anny answered, holding her hands up in surrender, "You know An, the moment we get soap involved, she flips out and it'll wreck her chances with Jay. Her life is finally gravy boats and loaves of buttered toast, just let her off today, that's all I'm askin'."

"But what if Jay can _smell_ her, Anny?" Double-N argued, "Do you really think he'd be willing to get to know her better if he discovers that she hardly bathes?!"

"Calm down, the guy'll probably be so nervous that he won't be 'daisy fresh' either." Anny argued, Double-N looked at her, "I just don't want this to ruin the relationship they're building…" she said softly. Anny patted her brainy friend's back, "It won't, and if he tries to ditch her, I'll hold him down and you use that old hypno wheel thing to make sure her smell doesn't bug him." Her brilliant friend seemed to relax as she gave her a bright, gap-toothed smile, "Sounds good to me, Anny." She replied softly before turning to the bathroom and cried, "BUT YOU ARE SCRUBBING BEHIND THE EARS, MISSY!"

"Anny!" An pleaded from the bathroom, "Take it or leave it Lumpy." Anny said.

"Okay…" An replied from the other side, probably pouting but did as she was told, after all, she _did_ want to look nice for Jay…

An could see her complexion in the mirror go from a yellowish green to pink… which meant that she was blushing… or she had spilled paint on herself again… no, wait, she didn't play with paint yesterday, so she had to be blushing.

"Anny, Double-N?" she called as she got into her tub, "Can you guys pick out something for me?" she asked.

"Course, Lumpy!" Anny cried from outside the bathroom, "We've gotcha!"

"Would you like us to style your hair as well?" Double-N offered.

"Okay!" An replied cheerfully, bouncing in the gravy in the tub as she turned the shower part on and winced at the cold water that hit her before it warmed up, maybe she and Jay could go to the haunted house and take pictures with all sorts of monsters! And eat lots of snacks and go on lots of roller coasters and maybe… she felt her cheeks burn a bit as she imagined maybe even going into that new tunnel of love thing that Jenny had told her about the day before with him. She began scrubbing behind her ears with a clean, new washcloth that her mom had brought down for her yesterday, excitement bouncing around her body like a rubber band ball.

Today was going to be the best day ever!

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.

.

Jay slipped into the shower for his _third_ one of the day. He was so nervous he couldn't stop sweating, and then getting thirsty, then sweating more, then getting sweat stains in some of his cleanest clothes then having to shower and change again.

After he finished and got out, his brothers stared at him with expressions that practically screamed, 'are you serious right now?' Tee was wearing a torn red polka dotted vest over a white shirt and jeans while Larie wore a brown leather jacket over a black tank top and jeans, both of them had been wearing them since six am when Jay had woke them up with his first shower of the day.

"Calm down Jay," Tee said as he passed them.

"Yeah, you ain't the only one nervous." Larie agreed, "And you don't see us sweating through our clothes and taking three showers!" Tee nudged him, "You're not helping." He whispered, his voice stern.

"You're not helping!" Jay called from their shared bedroom as he closed the door to change, his voice squeaky from nerves, or maybe he swallowed a little soap and it was making him pitchy, Larie couldn't tell.

"Him sweating through all of our clean clothes isn't helping either." Larie pointed out. Tee gave him a stern look before turning to their room, "Look Jay, no more water until we get inside the park." Tee advised.

"And how will _that_ help me?" Jay asked from inside.

"Easy, no more water, no more sweatin'." Tee explained, "You can sweat in the park and she probably won't notice."

"Yeah." Larie piped in, "Why don't ya take her to a really warm place so you can blame the sweat on the heat?"

Jay peeped out of their room and looked at his elder brothers with wide eyes, "You really think that'll work?"

"It's worth a shot." Tee said with a shrug, "It's not like me or Larie have ever done something like this before either." Jay seemed to take a little comfort in that before opening the door, throwing on a gray shirt over a pair of red pants as he stepped out of their room.

"You sweat through the past pair of jeans?" Tee asked plainly while Larie held back a chuckle. Jay rubbed the back of his head, bashful as he passed them back to the bathroom to pull his long blonde hair back into a ponytail, "My hands wouldn't stp sweating and I kept wiping them on my jeans and after a while it looked like I peed myself." He admitted watching his brothers bite back chuckles in the mirror while pulling his hair back, "I figure if I sweat too bad, I can wipe my hands on a napkin or a seat or something."

His brothers were trying hard not to laugh and didn't speak but they both gave him thumbs up so he decided to take what he could get and roll with it, after all, Tee had been right, they'd never been on something as close to a date as this, hell, none of them had ever been on anything close to a date _period_.

So he emerged from the bathroom and looked at his brothers, "We should get going so we can meet them on time." He suggested, his brothers stifled their laughter and nodded before leading the way down the stairs, both of their movements stiff and nervous.

Jay hopped down the steps behind them before calling out to their sleeping dad, who had a rare day off, that they would be out with friends and be back late. Their dad made an odd noise similar to a growl as a response, which they took as a 'have fun' and left. Jay paused as they made their way to the amusement park, "ya think maybe we should have asked Dad for advise on what to do on a date before we left?" he asked his brothers.

"Nah," Larie replied, "Let 'um sleep. He's been working a lot of long shifts, he's earned a nice long nap."

"Guess yer right." Jay said as they kept moving, "Plus imagine how impressed he'll be that we managed to get girlfriends all on our own!" The three brothers smiled as they listed various ways their dad would react to such news, "Today'll be a great day!" Jay exclaimed as they waited for the next bus at the bus stop near their home.

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.

.

Sam scowled as he watched his sister and her friends, all dolled up doing a last minute check to make sure they were all ready before hopping into his dad's car. His sister wore an oversized red and white striped blouse with green leggings and it looked as if her glasses had been cleaned. Which was a big deal, since An hardly ever cleaned anything other than her plate.

He looked at Double-N, her clothes made her look so sweet and innocent, he wished he still had his phone so he could take a picture of her in that cute outfit… but it had been confiscated… He clenched his fist, the past two days had sucked, and it only was worse today as he watched the Ans slide into his dad's car with Double-N holding most likely delicious homemade lunches and vanish from sight, knowing that Double-N would be in Larie's arms as soon as she got to the amusement park, she'd probably made extra food so she could share her lunch with Larie... He scowled as he pictured Double-N hand feeding his murderous foe sandwiches and dabbing at the crumbs on his face with her hanky.

Why hadn't he just of agreed, he could have run interference and made sure Larie would have no one on one time with her… although, if he did that, he would be probably be the next person to be killed. Still, it was tempting.

But who knows if Larie could even make it today? For all he knew, he could have caught a bad cold or something and couldn't come. Or maybe their ride would get a popped tire or something, he had no idea how they were gonna get there. He knew that they weren't getting a ride from Jenny. She had gone with Rachel in Jenny's boyfriend's dad's car earlier, he watched Jenny give her boyfriend a kiss before hopping into the car with Rachel, another boy sitting with her in the back. Sam assuming that Jenny had asked her boyfriend to bring a kid to be with whichever girl who was left over on this trip.

He sighed and went back to work, with nothing else to do besides homework these past two days and since no one was coming into his room, he had taped photos of Double-N and the murderer as well as her with the victim on his bedroom wall, red xs crossed over Nate and Karen's faces with a circle around Larie's, there was a piece of paper next to it said, "Get rid of him!" He thought about changing the message next to it, but he couldn't think of any other way he could say that at the moment.

With that hint Karen had inadvertently given him before she died, it had been pretty easy to establish how one might murder Nate so all the evidence would point to Karen, it had taken several pages of sorting things out to figure out, but he had done it. The way Karen had been murdered was pretty straight forward, but he still wrote it down. He knew Larie's goal, so he wrote that down too; 'Goal: to eliminate all those who stand in my way of Double-N or harass her.'

He began putting more notes on his wall, helping him connect the method and how everything went down in each murder with red string and push pins. When he finished, his bedroom wall had a big web chart on it with everything he knew on it. While it probably wasn't wise to put it up on the wall, but he needed lots of space and his family wasn't coming into his room and the web itself was on the same wall as the door, so even if his family _did_ open the door, they wouldn't notice it right away. He could have cleared out his closet and done it in there, but then he'd have to take everything out of his Double-N shrine and if anyone saw that, well, he'd probably be grounded for the next couple years for spying on one of his sister's best friends. So it was all up on the wall for him to see and piece the specifics together.

Thanks to his little web, he now had a good idea of the how and the why for the murders, but he still had no idea why Jamie had helped Larie with them… until he heard a car outside.

His dad couldn't be back yet, it was way too soon, so he looked out the window to see Jamie's dad drive her to a doctor's appointment.

At that moment, something An had said echoed through his mind, "Jamie would do anything for you…"

He glanced over at the framed photo he had placed face down so he wouldn't have to see it… Would Jamie really do _anything_ for him? Even if it meant helping someone kill two people?

He reached for the photo, curious. It couldn't be that simple, could it? He pulled the photo up to see Jamie staring at him with a dazed, happy expression that he often would have on his own face when he looked at his Double-N shrine.

Did Jamie _really_ help Larie with these murders just for him?

He needed to know.

But to do that, he'd have to sneak out of the house to meet with Jamie when she came back from the doctor's. And while, unlike An, he still had stairs, he also had his mother guarding the steps like a rabid watch dog incase he tried to sneak out of the house. He'd need another way out…

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Everyone waved at the Ans as they hopped out of An's dad's car and being sure to thank him for the ride before running over to the others. Jenny made introductions for the two strangers before her boyfriend passed out his free tickets and they all entered the park with eager expressions. An and Jay raced for the Haunted House first thing while Larie asked if Double-N if she wanted to check out the butterfly garden, making her light up before they grabbed a map and tried to find it. Jenny and her boyfriend made a beeline for the tunnel of love so they could have some alone time before his shift started and the guy Jenny's boyfriend brought along asked Rachel if she wanted to grab some food before checking out some of the booths and she eagerly agreed, the boy telling her that they had great meat kabobs before they vanished from sight.

Leaving Anny and Tee at the entrance, unsure what to do. Anny tried hard to play it cool while she was internally freaking out while trying to figure out what to do.

Despite how she acted as if she had men fighting for her all the time and she was a dating guru, all the stuff she knew about dating came from her older sister and magazines. And her older sister's advise was not really something Anny wanted to rely on.

She tried not to act too nervous, but she jumped a bit when Tee finally spoke, probably because his voice was so deep and that he hadn't spoken much since they had arrived.

"Wanna ride those rides you were too short to ride before?" He asked her. After a second to recompose herself, she replied, "Damn right, time to get my revenge against all those jerks who told me to get lost!" Tee gave her a playful grin, revealing a blue tooth that she hadn't really noticed before and found herself cracking jokes with him as they made their way to the first of many roller coasters Anny had been too short to ride last time she and her friends were here _just_ to take a better look to see if it really was or if she was just seeing things.

After the first ride and showing up the same loser who had been there years ago, the two wobbled off the ride and leaned over a trash can, both feeling dizzy from the ride and not wanting to vomit on themselves or each other. After a minute to recover, they noticed the booth where people bought the photos of themselves going through the big loop de loop. They took one look at the expressions of the people on the screen and began laughing so hard, tears quickly formed in their eyes as they made a few jokes about the faces that had been made by other people until their own faces popped up on one of the screens and they decided to leave before someone could make a comment about their own expressions as payback.

They did this a few more times on a few more roller coasters before Anny led Tee to a ride she and her friends had gone on several times when they were here last:

The swing ride.

Tee had seemed confused as to why Anny had brought him to that one until she explained that it was one of the few rides that she and her friends could all go on together and enjoy. "They could have gone on all those rides without me, but they didn't want me to feel left out." She explained, "Plus, it was funny whenever someone's shoe flew off and smacked someone in the face!" she laughed.

"Well now I'm in!" He laughed as they got in the short line together, quietly guessing which person's shoe would fly off before hopping onto the ride, picking swings next to each other and making sure their shoes were secure on their feet before the ride started lifting them into the air.

Once it started, the two began to laugh as they enjoyed the feeling of the cool air against their faces as it pushed their hair off their faces, revealing the beautiful, kind eyes Tee had been hiding under his hair as he smiled vibrantly in her direction, his blue tooth gleaming.

'I could get used to this.' Anny thought with flushed cheeks as she smiled back, happy that she agreed to do this. After all the crap that had happened these past two weeks, she needed a day of fun to get her mind off of all of it.

And having a great guy with her for this great day? It was like icing on the cake for her. 'This day will be one to remember!' She decided.

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On the way home from the doctor's office, Jamie stared at the amusement park ticket Jenny had slipped her when Sam wasn't around. She really wanted to go, but she didn't want to betray him… But he had been acting really mean and moody as of late and had been lashing out at her when she only was trying to talk to him.

She looked at the ticket, remembering what Sam had bitterly told her when she asked how he got grounded (after he punched a hole in the lunch table while gritting his teeth and took ten minutes to calm down enough to speak). Apparently An had asked him if he wanted to change his mind, telling him that it was unfair because she had wanted to go to the amusement park despite the fact that he said she didn't want to go and he got caught blowing up at her and was grounded for it.

Jamie hadn't known whether to be touched that An had stood up against Sam on her behalf so she could have some fun or to feel guilty for being somewhat partly responsible for Sam getting grounded… even though she hadn't been the one to lash out at the others when they were invited, nor had she asked Sam to reconsider for her sake.

Yet Sam seemed to act as if she and An had worked together to get him grounded…

But the reason he had been caught being mean to his sister was because she was asking him if he wanted to go with them, at least for Jamie's sake, and he had just not simply refused his sister's offer, he yelled at her for even bringing it up and even _bit_ her.

Jamie resisted the urge to curl up in a ball in the backseat. She had helped Larie kill two people so Sam could realize that he belonged with her, but all she had now was regret.

Sam had been a jerk to her this past week and acted nothing like the boy she had known and loved for years. He was rude to her, nasty to her and he even yelled at her once. _This_ Sam was _not_ the Sam she had fallen for. Her Sam was her knight in shining armor, he was sweet, gentle and kind to her. He wouldn't have denied her the chance to go to an amusement park in the first place, let alone attacking his sister for offering to get the two of them tickets to go with the rest of the group after he rudely turned them down… She missed _her_ Sam…

But her Sam wasn't around anymore, the Sam that was here could actually be quite scary at times and didn't seem to like her very much.

She sucked in a breath, determined. She was going to the amusement park with the others and have a good time. And on Monday, she was going to tell him how she didn't like how he had been acting lately and either he was going to go back to how he had been before Nate and Karen died or… or she wasn't going to be around to deal with his nasty behavior anymore.

Her dad stopped out front of their house for a moment for her to hop out and grab her phone and purse from her room before driving her to the amusement park, turning up the radio so he could hear what was happening in the game better while he waited.

She dashed inside and up the steps, smiling, even though Monday would probably be unpleasant, today would be fun.

And fun was welcomed after everything she had been through these past two weeks.

She got to her room… only for the door to be closed. Which was odd, since she had left it open when she left for the doctors this morning… She reached for the doorknob and suddenly felt dread flood through her body the moment she touched it… but she couldn't leave without her phone or wallet and her mother wasn't home to ask her to check it for her, she was getting her hair done and wouldn't be back for another hour or so.

'Maybe I'll have Dad check my room…' she thought as she turned to head back downstairs.

She heard her door open and felt a tight grip on her wrist, "We need to talk." A familiar voice said darkly.

"S-Sam?" Jamie stuttered as she slowly turned around, her eyes wide with fear as he yanked her into her bedroom and slammed the door behind her.

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.

.

An smiled as she and Jay explored the park together, excitedly pointing things out to one another like children would and laughing.

The Haunted House had been a blast, whenever one of the monsters or ghosts popped out, An and Jay would compliment them for their work, instead of greeting them with a scream or give the guy dressed as a vampire a hard time for not looking like he came out of _Twilight_ like most people, and they had taken a bunch of photos with them. They all turned out to be pretty nice and friendly and even gave them free snack wavers that they used to enjoy some cotton candy as they walked to the teacup ride, where they spin themselves so fast that they nearly hurled and were laughing as they stumbled out of the ride, still dizzy.

After that, they went through a maze of mirrors… laughing when one of the mirrors warped their faces and bodies and goofed off in front of them for a while before exiting and moving on to ride some roller coasters, where Jay would have to catch her glasses when they slipped off her face so they wouldn't fall and break and would bashfully returning them to her when the ride was over so she could leave safely.

After that, An pulled out a lunch that she and her mother had made the day before from her purse and they sat down at one of the tables and enjoyed a nice lunch before hopping on the ferris wheel and pointing out various places they both liked and then gushed about how great the places were.

"Uh, hey An?" Jay said, rubbing the back of his head, his cheeks pink and his buck teeth biting into his lip for a moment before he stammered, "W-W-Would you like to ga-ga-go out with m-me?"

An sat there, staring at him, wide-eyed, her cheeks a bright shade of red, "Is this real life?" she squeaked, surprising him and making him chuckle a bit before he replied, "Yeah. It's real life An," He said, smiling sweetly to her as he offering her his pinky, "Pinky swear." He guaranteed. After letting his answer sink in for a moment, he watched in amazement as her shaking hand rose and she hooked her pinky with his. "O-okay." She shyly replied, unable to look him in the eye right away without her face going from it's usual shade of yellow to bright red. Jay seemed unable to look her in the eye without turning red either, but they kept their pinkies hooked between them on the way back to the ground and then let the rest of their fingers intertwine as they exited the ferris wheel and wandered around, neither of them really thinking about where to go next.

They only thing either of them could really think was, 'Today really _is_ a great day!'

.

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.

Sam stood by Jamie's window, horrified by what had just happened.

A few minutes earlier, Sam had dragged her into her room, closed the door behind her and, after she asked how he got into her bedroom and he explained that he remembered where her family's spare key was and used it to come in through the back, he confronted her about knowing that she was involved with Nate and Karen's deaths.

Jamie paled (which was hard for anyone who didn't know her very well to notice do to her ashen skin) and then quickly denied his accusations, asking him, in a voice that was both hurt and frightened why he'd think that. He grabbed her by the collar of her blouse and brought her face an inch from his own.

"I _saw_ you pour the water on Larie Kanker wearing a wig and a pink hat." He said firmly, "AND I know you somehow got Karen's love letter and used it to help lure Nate to his death!"

"Sam, you're scaring me!" she cried, tears beginning to slip down her cheeks. Sam scowled at her, he had realized that her crocodile tears were just an act to gain sympathy and to have others give her attention and comfort, he had fallen for it for years and had run around in circles to cheer her up. But not anymore.

He finally saw why the other kids in the neighborhood (except for caring Double-N and his stupid sister) would completely ignore her when she was being a damsel in distress; because they could see that it was bogus. That she was fine and that she was only acting to give him an excuse to rescue her from either another person or her own fake injuries or sadness.

"You told me you had been asked by a high schooler to drop a bucket and step stool into a bathroom!" He continued angrily.

"He said it was because it was their class's turn to clean it!" she wailed, tears falling down her cheeks at a faster rate, "And what does that have to do with a murder, anyway?" she howled, hoping that _someone_ would hear her if she was loud enough. Sam's scowl deepened, "Don't play dumb, Jamie!" he hissed, "I know you helped kill Nate and Karen and I'm not gonna let you get away with it!"

"Sam, you're talking like a crazy person!" Jamie exclaimed, shaking with fright.

"Oh, _I'm_ the crazy person?" He challenged, shoving her towards her window, " _I'm_ not the one who helped Larie Kanker kill two people!"

"Larie Kanker? Kill?" she asked, her voice pitched with fear, although, if it was because she had been found out or that she was scared of Sam was hard to say, not that he cared. His eyes narrowed as she claimed that he was being ridiculous and to stop, trying to remind him that they were best friends.

"We _were._ " Sam spat, "But that was before you joined forces with…" he stopped dead when he saw an admission ticket for the same amusement park Double-N, his stupid sister and that ugly cow Anny had left for that morning clutched in her hand.

 _The same amusement park where a murderer was wooing his beloved Double-N._

"What." He growled, "Is _that_?" Jamie looked confused for a moment before she realized that the ticket was still in view, she quickly tried to hide it behind her back, but it was too late. Sam grabbed the ticket and began wrenching it from her fingers, "YOU PROMISED THAT YOU WOULD STAY WITH ME!" he bellowed as she did her best to keep it by trying to yank it free from his fingers.

"THAT WAS BEFORE YOU MADE IT CLEAR THAT YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT YOURSELF AND DOUBLE-N!" she shrieked, surprising him. He was no longer trying to snatch her ticket from her, but he still held onto one side of it while staring at her with a stunned expression.

"You thought I didn't know that you still have a crush on her?" Jamie asked dryly, "About the pictures you took of her? About the shrine in your closet devoted to her?" she let out a bitter laugh before exclaiming that, " _I knew about it all_!"

Sam released the ticket entirely as her announcement began to sink in while Jamie pulled the ticket close to her chest, relieved that he hadn't torn it. "Is-is that why he picked you?" he asked, his voice quaking, "Because you knew about all that?"

Jamie looked at him, fear gone and replaced with anger, pain and malice, " _Picked_ me?" she murmured, her body shaking, "You think _he_ knew that you like Double-N too?" She then started to laugh as if it was the funniest thing she had ever heard, sending chills up Sam's voice before revealing that, " _ **I**_ _ **volunteered**_ _to help him get Double-N as his girlfriend so_ _ **you**_ _would_ _ **finally**_ _get that_ _ **she doesn't like you like that and**_ _ **never will**_ _!_ "

Sam felt like he had been punched in the stomach and staggered backwards, horrified that she would lie to him like that as Jamie took a step forward, the pain completely gone from her tone, leaving nothing but anger and bitterness in her voice, "I didn't know he'd _kill_ anybody, but I kept quiet because _I_ _thought_ _**you**_ were _worth the guilt_!" Sam began to shake as she spat, "But do you know what? As long as Larie gets Double-N as his girlfriend, it'll be worth it because it'll mean I was right and that _she will never love you like-_ "

Sam didn't hear the last part of her sentence, he didn't let her finish it. After hearing her say that Double-N would never love him he shoved her so hard that she crashed through the window with a deafening crash, glass hovering in midair for a moment with her before Sam watched her fall to the ground, almost as if she was in slow motion as she reached up to him and called, "Sam?" before she crashed onto the ground with a sickening crunch and the tingling sound of glass raining down and landing on the ground.

It took a moment to realize what he had done before he ran down the stairs and left out the back door to look at her broken frail body on the ground. He fell onto his knees and reached for her, then stopped himself by grabbing his arm, feeling himself shake with horror.

He had killed her.

He had killed his best friend.

He hunched over and grasped at his hair, his eyes wild with fear and regret, he hadn't _meant_ to kill her, he just wanted her to stop talking! He took in shaky breaths as he stared at her body, this would have never happened if she never teamed up with Larie!

He paused, feeling his body still before he straightened. 'Yeah,' he thought, 'if she hadn't helped Larie, we would have never stopped being friends and she would of never said those things and I never would have…' he stopped himself from finishing that statement and instead looked towards the direction of the amusement park.

This was all Larie Kanker's fault. Jamie, Karen and Nate's deaths were because of him and Sam was going to make him pay for it.

He looked down at what remained of his once best friend and grabbed a large piece of broken glass from beside her and yanked her ticket out of her hand. "I'll avenge you." He promised before heading towards the amusement park. Then he stopped, he had no proof that Larie had killed those people, but Jamie might've had something. He ran back upstairs and began searching for her diary, hoping she had written down her crimes on it's pages so Larie could be in prison where he belonged.

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.

Jenny and her boyfriend peek out from behind a snack stall where he worked and watched as Larie and Double-N walked through the new butterfly garden together, chatting.

"Excuse me." A voice from behind them called, making the couple jump before turning around, "Can I have a hot dog?" he asked. Jenny's boyfriend got to work on that while Jenny went back to spying on her classmates.

Ever since Jay and Tee asked her about group dating, she had been helping Tee and Jay help their brother snag his dream girl (and help them snag theirs). And she loved it!

Who knew how much fun matchmaking could be?

She had already checked on An and Jay when they were coming out of the haunted house (her boyfriend getting multiple texts from the people inside about those two being super cool and awesome), and Anny and Tee while they were laughing about the pics from the roller coasters (made the photo guy's day apparently). And it was now Larie and Double-N's turn.

She would have inspected how Rachel and her new friend were doing but they both left early because of work. Rachel on her family's farm and the new guy's family had a farm he worked on as well. She figured, oh well, she could hook them up another time, at least this outing had eased some of the pain she had been in this week. She had been sad when Nate died, they were good friends, but she was so upset when Karen died that she hardly moved, ate or spoke much, but when they decided to go on this trip together, the Daughter of a Shepherd started acting more like her old self again. She was still in mourning, but today, she had been laughing and smiling like she had before Nate and Karen died.

She watched as a butterfly with crimson tipped wings land on Larie's finger and watched as he and Double-N admired it and chatted. Then another butterfly with grayish wings with red-orange tips fluttered past the two and the one on his finger fluttered off, with Larie looking at his finger, confused, while Double-N was trying not to laugh, "What the?" she heard him say as Double-N began pulling things out of her purse, explaining something to him softly as she squirted what looked like hand sanitizer on his finger and handed him her handkerchief.

"What's Micturated mean?" Jenny heard him ask. Double-N seemed unsure to answer him for a moment before she whispered something in Larie's ear, making him blush… then look angry, "IT PEED ON ME?" He cried, Double-N gently calming him down while trying not to giggle before hooking her arm in his and pointing towards another attraction, the boy quickly following her lead like the lovesick puppy he obviously was.

She then looked to her boyfriend, who was serving a short young woman with dirty blonde hair, "Butterflies can pee?" she asked. Her boyfriend pondered the question while serving the young lady, who thanked him and looked Jenny right in the eye and replied that, "Butterflies drink nectar, they don't eat solid food, so the only waste they have to rid themselves of is fluid. So, yes, butterflies _do_ pee." She then promptly paid for her food, when she saw that the two teens were staring at her, a little weirded out that she had answered so readily. She pulled out her smart phone, "Google." She explained before taking a bite of her hot dog and walking away.

"Huh, should have thought of that." Jenny said before her boyfriend informed her that it was his break time and asked if she wanted to have some lunch with him. She smiled and eagerly agreed, taking his hand.

She silently prayed that her friends would all have a great rest of the day before being led through the park, feeling like she was walking on air.

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.

Rachel walked towards home from the bus stop near the cul-de-sac, feeling as if a large weight had been lifted off her back. Which was good because she'd be lifting heavy objects on the farm and having that weight would have made that more difficult, yes?

Her belly was full, which was great because while normally she had a healthy appetite, after the death of her friends, she felt numb and exhausted. Eating suddenly had become tiring, if it hadn't been for her friends, school would have been insufferable and at home she could hardly finish any of her chores. Mama, Papa, Nana and Nano had been very understanding as to why she wasn't as diligent as she normally was, after all, losing a friend, especially while they are still young, is always difficult, but to lose two within such a short period of time in such horrible ways… Well, they couldn't imagine the pain she had been in and didn't mind splitting her chores between them so until both children had been laid to rest and they could invite everyone to celebrate the lives of those they lost so their daughter could mourn properly.

Today the Daughter of a Shepherd finally felt as if she could finish all of her chores for the day, or at least what her family hadn't been able to finish yet, since she had been out for most of the morning and mid afternoon, but it was an improvement to how she _had_ been feeling.

She was grateful for the support and invitation, deciding that once her friends had been returned to the earth, she would give them some of Nana's special sea cucumber balls of friendship as thanks for their kindness when they arrived at the party.

Rachel had began making a mental list of all the people she needed to invite, thinking of inviting that Kabob-Boy from earlier when she heard what sounded like a wails of pain and anguish coming from the cul-de-sac.

She felt the weight that she had finally freed from her back slam back down upon her heart as she followed the sound and found Fluffy-Haired-Jamie girl's father on his knees, holding something, glass everywhere around him.

When Rachel finally saw what the man was holding, she nearly threw up sour half-digested ka of the bobs she had happily eaten just a little while ago.

Pale-As-A-Sheep-Jamie girl lay limp in her father's arms as he howled, her limbs in odd angles and her eyes open and lifeless. The glass around and under the child gave Rachel the impression that she hadn't jumped out her bedroom window, which meant…

Oh no…

"Rachel will go get help!" she cried, the grieving father not seeming to hear her as she raced to the only house she knew would have someone in it.

She banged on the door so hard it flew inside and shattered on the steps, Noodle-Head-An girl's mother leaned her head out of the kitchen with a scowl and opened her mouth, ready to scold her for destroying their front door until she screamed, "HAIR-LIKE-COTTON-JAMIE GIRL HAS MET A FOUL END! CALL THE AUTHORITIES!" The woman's expression quickly shifted from angry to horrified as she took in the girl's face for a moment before she disappeared back into the kitchen and began dialing.

"A LITTLE GIRL HAS BEEN MURDERED!" She cried into the phone, "I NEED THE POLICE RIGHT AWAY!" After Rachel informed her where the deceased was and that her father was in a catatonic state after (most likely) finding his daughter dead, the woman passed it on to the authorities and hung up the phone.

"I-I need to tell Sam what happened." The blonde woman reported, her voice trembling and full of emotion, "I-it's best if he hears it from me than…" she couldn't finish her sentence. She didn't have to.

"The Daughter of a Shepherd will accompany you, as Best-Friend-Sam boy will need all the moral support he can get, yes?" The woman pulled her into a hug, "Thank you." She breathed before letting her go and leading her up the stairs and towards a closed door.

The mother collected herself before she knocked on the door, "Sam?" she called, "I need to talk to you for a second."

No response.

"You're not in trouble or anything, it's just…" she paused, took a deep breath, then said, "It's about Jamie."

Still no response.

"Sam?" His mother called again, concern more evident in her expression as she tried the knob, only to find that it wasn't budging.

It was locked.

Panic spread over the mother's face as she struggled to turn the knob for a few seconds before yanking the door off it's hinges and flinging it down the hallway, one child had been killed in the neighborhood today, who was to say that her son hadn't been killed while she was straightening up? The Daughter of a Shepherd followed the frantic mother into the room to see that the bed had been stripped and his sheets were tied to his bed and led out the window, the two of them running towards the window and looking down to see if he had just climbed down, although both of them had a feeling he had left a long time ago.

After confirming what they already knew, his mother scowled down the makeshift rope, "He is in _so_ much trouble when I find him…" she snarled. Rachel felt uneasy in Fugitive-Sam boy's room, she didn't know why, but…

She turned and saw his closet door wide open… which was weird because his sheets and blanket had reached all the way down, he had no need for extra length to leave the room, so why was his closet open?

There seemed to be something behind his clothes… Rachel made a determined face before she pushed his clothes aside and stared at the interior with wide eyes.

Photos of the Double-N-An girl wallpapered the interior of the closet, photos of her with her friends at school and in Apparently-Peeping-Sam boy's home, her alone in her home, her changing… Rachel felt righteous fury flow through her on the Brilliant-An girl's behalf, this little lecher was spying on her and taking images of her at her most private moments and stuck them in his bedroom for him to ogle any time he wanted.

"What on Earth?" The pervert's mother murmured before gasping and covering her mouth from shock, "Is that…?"

"Indeed." Rachel replied, her voice laced with venom. The sounds of sirens began screaming from afar, informing them that the police were on their way there.

"W-We should head downstairs and be moral support…" Simple-An girl's mother stuttered, "W-we'll tell them after…" The Daughter of a Shepherd nodded reluctantly, while she wanted the Depraved-Sam boy to be punished for his spying and peeping, there was a dead child to be addressed to…

The two women turned towards the door and gasped.

On the wall was a large web chart with notes, photos, red string attaching everything and a paper in the middle that made their eyes widen with horror before racing downstairs, outside and down the street to meet with the incoming cops.

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.

.

Ann and Larie walked through the park, chatting and laughing as they did. They had enjoyed a lovely lunch, been on several rides and played a few games, all and all thye were having a good time. Ann was grateful that Jenny had suggested this outing, she felt as if she hadn't smiled and laughed this much in a very long time.

She was also glad that she could spend a little one on one time with Larie, conversations with him were interesting and entertaining and he was very considerate of her. Like when she had not felt well after the roller coaster, he had led her to a seat by a small café, putting his jacket down on the chair for her before she sat down, so she wouldn't get any melted ice cream that was on the seat on her dress and freak out about the stains. He then got her a ginger ale and sat beside her, suggesting they go on the go carts next and pointed to a few other rides that did _not_ flip upside down or do loop-de-loops that they could do afterwards.

"Shall we go on the Ferris Wheel next?" She asked, beaming as she held the map up to him, ready to show the way. He opened his mouth, probably ready to agree, when something seemed to catch his eye and a mischievous smile crept up his face as he quickly, but gently, took her hand and pointed to the tunnel of love, "Check it out!" he snickered.

Ann's eyes followed his finger to find An and his brother Jay, blushing profusely as they stood in line, "Oh my!" she said, holding her hand over her mouth, trying to keep from chuckling, recalling that the last time she had her friends had come here, An had refused to go anywhere near that ride due to finding the romantic theme of the ride 'MUSHY AND YUCKY!' And now she was bashfully waiting to ride it, with a _boy_ , no less. She briefly wondered if Jay had somehow convinced her to go on that ride with him or if An had somehow mustered the courage to walk in line with Jay.

Even with her massive intellect, trying to think of how either of those things were done to accomplish what she was witnessing right now would be a herculean task.

When she turned to ask Larie what he thought, she saw him take a picture of the two in line with the sign beside them and then look at her, still smirking, "They might try to deny that they were there if we ask 'um, this way we can prove that they were here and learn how they got here."

"Clever!" she complimented, making him flush as he stuffed his phone back into his pocket, "Yeah, well, this way we don't have to wait for 'um outside the exit, so we can still go on the ferris wheel before teasin' um a bit."

He then looked down at his hand, saw he was still holding hers and they both turned red as he let go and they both pulled their hands towards their chests, embarrassed.

"So the ferris wheel?" He finally asked once their faces had cooled to a soft shade of pink. "Y-yes," she replied, flustered. But before she could lead them toward it, a pink, blue and orange blur pounced on them from above and shoved something long and sharp into the blue hair that covered Larie's left eye.

At that moment, the world suddenly fell silent as Larie opened his mouth, his face twisted in pain as he threw the blur off before collapsing onto his knees, his hands under his hair as blood trickled down his face. Ann raced over towards him, quickly taking off her sweater and somehow managed to slip it under his hands as she began to apply pressure to the wound.

Once she had applied pressure she finally heard herself babbling to Larie about keeping pressure on the wound and heard his pained, ragged breathing as she pressed her sweater against his face, her voice was filled with panic and sounded as if it was coming from far away.

It wasn't until she felt a strong grip on her wrist that she turned to see who had attacked Larie…

"Sam?" she murmured, horrified by his twisted, crazed expression and pulled Larie's head closer to her own, fearful what horrible deed the visibly insane child would do next.

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.

.

Sam had found Jamie's diary, he stuffed the large glass shard in his back pocket and flipped through pages gushing on and on about what they had done together and stuff she had been making for club, those pages would not help him, if anything, they would hinder him. He decided to just look at any word starting with a capital 'L', after a few painstaking minutes, he finally found a page with Larie's name on it, but it only mentioned that he had asked her to move some stuff into the bathroom and that she had a feeling something bad was going to happen. He snarled and nearly threw the diary across the room only to stop himself and shove it into his back pocket. While it was barely any help, if Sam could explain the connection between Larie and Jamie maybe the cops could see that Larie was truly guilty for all three of the deaths that had occurred.

He heard a car horn honk and felt his stomach begin to sink. He had nearly forgotten about Jamie's dad! He quickly glanced outside Jamie's bedroom door, he didn't see anyone, so he made a break for it and raced down the steps. He fled out the back door, hopped the fence behind her family's property and ran into town until he got to a crosswalk with the red hand telling him that it was unsafe to cross at the moment.

He took that moment to lean against a nearby streetlight and catch his breath.

'Okay.' He told himself, 'You got away, now you need to get to the amusement park.'

He quickly pondered his options, he couldn't call anyone for a ride because his parents had told the other parents that he was grounded, so asking them to pick him up from his current location and take him to the amusement park would reveal that he escaped from his room and he'd be in even more trouble. He couldn't ask any of the other kids in the neighborhood to help him out because, well, the only ones who weren't at the amusement park already were dead.

Maybe An? He immediately pushed the thought from his head, An wouldn't do that because he was grounded, she'd probably call their parents and he'd be back in his room with a longer sentence.

Just as well that his parents had confiscated his phone earlier this week, so even if he did have someone he could call, he couldn't.

He could try to get a taxi. He fumbled through his pockets, pulling out a few pieces of lint and a single quarter. He looked at his meager funds and sighed, while his sister and her friends had used to go to such great lengths to gain this much, he doubted a quarter would get him far in a taxi.

Now that he thought about it, he might not get too far on a bus with only a quarter either. He could walk, but he had no idea how long everyone would be at the park, by the time he got there, they could have all gone home or the Ans could be about to hop into his dad's car to head home or, the worst option, Larie could be Double-N's boyfriend by the time he got there, making his task of convincing everyone that Larie was the killer much more difficult.

So walking was probably the worst option here. But what could he do? He couldn't afford the bus or a taxi. He patted his pockets down again, pulling out Jamie's diary and ticket for the park as he did so and hissing when he pricked his finger on the glass, making it bleed a bit.

He stared at the diary, wishing he could had the insight to snag her piggy bank too… Then he remembered seeing something green in Jamie's diary while flipping through earlier. He silently prayed as he flipped through the diary again, smiling when he found a wad of bills in her diary. Although he had no idea how and where she got all this money, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

He managed to get a taxi to the amusement park, it cost him everything from Jamie's diary, but it wasn't a big deal, it wasn't as if Jamie was going to have him arrested for stealing her secret diary money.

Sam used Jamie's ticket to get into the park and began his search, being mindful that if either An, Anny, Jenny or Rachel spotted him before he confronted Larie about the murders, they could and would stop him and call his parents to pick him up. And he couldn't have that. He had already gotten this far, he couldn't go back now, no one would believe him if he told them the truth. He grabbed a map and went over to the closest thing he believed that Double-N would want to do, knowing that Larie would probably do what she wanted to do.

After running around, trying to catch sight of his beloved princess and the evil murderer while staying out of sight, he decided that it would probably be best to get onto higher ground so he could find them more easily.

He considered going onto a ride and looking for them there, but he rejected it, if he did see them up there, by the time he got off the ride, he could lose them again. He was losing time. He saw a trash can behind a food stand and climbed up the trash can and began looking around, only to see Larie and Double-N blushing and holding their hands close to their chests. He couldn't hear what they were saying and frankly, he didn't care.

That devious bastard had taken Nate and Jamie from him (okay and he also killed Karen) but the _hell_ he was going to let him take Double-N from him too!

He pulled the glass shard out of his pocket and leapt onto the roof of a nearby booth and continued to leap from rooftop to rooftop until he was nearly on top of them. He then launched himself off the booth and felt a smile curl up his cheeks when he felt the glass sink into Larie's hair and heard the teen let out a pained cry, making others turn toward them, see what was happening and panic, fleeing in various directions while screaming.

His good feeling kinda flew away when Larie flung him away, taking his shard with him, and made him crash into a nearby recycling bin. After taking a moment to recover, he found his blue haired nemesis on his knees, Double-N's voice pitched with panic as she screamed his name and gathered him into her arms so she could press her white sweater against what Sam guessed was Larie's eye, staining it red with the blood of a cold hearted killer while she anxiously explained that they needed to keep pressure on the wound.

Sam felt his temper flare beyond belief, that blue haired monster didn't _deserve_ to have Double-N perform first aid on him. Hell, the fact that she was ruining her sweater to stop his bleeding was an outrage in itself!

But knowing sweet, kind Double-N, she probably couldn't help but help an injured person. So he would just have to lay it all out there for her and stop her from letting that cruel slaughterer suffer less.

He grabbed her arm, she stiffened immediately at his touch and looked up at him, petrified with an expression filled with pure fear on her face as her eyes brightened with recognition, "Sam?" she murmured, her body beginning to tremble as she pulled Larie's head closer to her as she swatted his hand away from her. While she wasn't all that strong, the shock from her being on Larie's side allowed her to break free of his grasp.

"Get away from him, Double-N." Sam ordered, his voice cold and angry. He saw her wince a bit before scrunching her face into a determined scowl and helping Larie to his feet, "I-I r-re-refuse." She stammered as bravely as she could, a small, grateful smile curling on the ends of Larie's mouth.

" _Get away from him_." Sam snarled not trusting the student executioner's smile at all, "He's a _killer_."

"What are you-?"

"HE KILLED THEM! HE KILLED NATE AND KAREN!"

"… Yer crazy…" Larie said with a cringe, Double-N nodded in agreement, scowling at Sam. "Do you really expect me to believe that Larie is responsible of such a horrid act after _stabbing poor Larie in the eye with a piece of glass_?!" She demanded, her anger at his accusation stinging like getting a smack from the end of a scorpion's tail. He began to shake. If it hadn't been for Larie, Nate and Karen would still be alive! If it hadn't been for Larie, Double-N would be his for the taking! If it hadn't been for Larie, Jamie would still be his loyal best friend! And if it hadn't been for Larie, Jamie would still be alive…

"JAMIE'S DEAD!" Sam bellowed at them, making them wince before the latest death hit them like a ton of bricks, their faces filling with confusion and dread at the news.

"… Jamie's dead?" Double-N asked, her voice soft and filled with hurt.

"…The kid …with the wavy …hair and the …whiney voice?" Larie managed, his voice strained with pain, "…oh man…"

"SHUT UP!" Sam shouted, brandishing his bloody shard of glass towards Larie, "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO PRETEND LIKE YOU'RE INNOCENT IN ALL OF THIS! JAMIE DIED TODAY _AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT_!"

"…How?" Larie breathed, "I've… been with… my brothers… and Double-N… all day…"

" _LIAR_!" Sam cried.

"It's true, Sam," Double-N said softly, trying to keep him calm, "Larie and I have been together at this park all day."

Sam felt as if he had been struck as soon as the words left her pleasantly plump lips and slipped through the cute gap in her teeth.

 _All day_? They had been together _all day_!?

He began grinding his teeth as he grabbed Double-N and rammed his fist into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her before flinging her against a recycling bin and making her crumble on the ground, trying to catch her breath as she coughed and sputtered, clutching her gut.

"ANN!" Larie cried, one hand over his hair, holding Double-N's sweater on his bleeding eye as he moved towards her, only for Sam to stop him by slashing at his outreached hand with the shard of glass.

Larie let out a hiss of pain before biting it back and scowling at him, probably sizing him up for a fight. And while normally, Sam was one to avoid getting into fights against people who he knew would have no issue fighting back, he needed to fight his demon.

And his demon's name was Larie Kanker.

Larie clenched his fist, although if it was to lessen the blood loss or him getting ready for a fight, he didn't know, either way, Sam was ready to slice him until he was weak and then make him admit to what he had done. He pulled his arm back, ready to cut him again, when he heard a loud, annoyingly familiar voice call out, "STOP IT, BABY BROTHER!"

Sam growled and turned to see his sister and Larie's younger brother, looking at him as if he had crawled straight out of hell as she and Jay helped Double-N up.

'Why is this idiot always getting in my way?' he thought as his rage made him become more fierce and less logical by the second.

"OR WHAT?" Sam asked, feeling a big smile widen on his face, "YOU GONNA TELL MOM ON ME?" An winced at the statement before taking a wide stance, turning around to Jenny and her boyfriend and shouting, "CALL THE POLICE! TELL THEM THAT SAM IS -!" Sam couldn't hear the rest of what she was saying over the sound of his own heart beat as the two nodded while racing towards the entrance, tapping on their phones with their fingers and putting them to their ears

The police? But he wasn't ready for them yet! Larie needed to admit to his crimes first! At this rate with An just told them, they'd assume that he was crazy and Larie would walk away a free man! He clenched his teeth and fists, cutting his hand on the piece of glass and making his hand start to bleed. That _idiot_! She _always_ ruined _everything_!

"JUST STOP, BABY BROTHER!" An pleaded, her eyes glistening with tears as she went on to ask that, "IF YOU STOP, BIG SISTER PROMISES-"

Sam didn't let her finish before lunging towards his sister, the shard held high above his head, "STOP CALLING ME BABY BROTHER!" he shrieked.

He watched his sister's eyes widen with fear and… was that hurt?

Well, that was her own stupid fault, she should have learned to mind her own business! He felt a smile of relief as he felt his weapon's sharp edge sink towards the ground, finally, he could have some peace and quiet.

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Anny and Tee had rushed over to see what the commotion was, neither of them unable to shake an ominous feeling that her friends and his brothers were in danger as they ran. When they got closer, they saw Jenny and her boyfriend running from the scene, "Jenny!" Anny called. Jenny looked over to her, pale as a sheet and shaking as she and her boyfriend held their phones to their ears, she put a hand to her phone and cried, "SAM ATTACKED DOUBLE-N AND LARIE! HE'S GONE COMPLETELY WACKO!"

"He did WHAT?" The two shouted in unison, which, under normal circumstances, would had made the two flustered, but not today. No, the moment they heard people they cared about were in danger, they no longer gave a shit if they were speaking in unison or not, all they wanted to know was, "WHERE IS THAT LITTLE SHIT!?"

"He's back that way!" Jenny cried, pointing towards the direction she and her bo had just came from, "An's trying to keep him calm, but-"

The two of them didn't hear anything after that, they were already weaving through leftover screaming patrons and letting the fire in their bellies fuel their feet like a coal fire powered an old fashioned train towards it's destination.

By the time they got on the scene, however, that fire turned to ice as they watched Sam leap towards his sister, a sharp object covered in blood raised over his head as he screamed for her to "STOP CALLING ME BABY BROTHER!"

The glass was about to plunge into An's body when Jay stepped between the siblings, the shard slicing through him and making him cry out in pain before Sam withdrew his weapon, annoyed that he got the wrong person.

"JAY!" the others screamed as he crumbled towards the ground, An was barely able to catch him before he hit the hard concrete due to the tears that blurred her vision and the specks of blood that dirtied her glasses and cheeks.

"What do I do, Double-N?" she wailed, trembling, "What do I do?" to the brainy An beside her, who immediately instructed her to put pressure on the wound and looked from injured Kanker to injured Kanker, concerned and uneasy about how they would fair against their nearly rabid opponent when they had to address to their wounds at the same time.

"WHY YOU LITTLE-!" Anny shouted as whammed her fist into the side of Sam's head, sending him through the nearest 'you must be this tall' sign as Tee spotted his other bleeding brother and brought him towards Double-N so she and An could address to his younger brothers' wounds while he and Anny addressed the little fucker who had doled them out.

Sam pulled himself up off the ground and scowled at his two new opponents and seemed to size them up:

Tee and his brothers went to a middle school full of delinquents, so they probably knew how to fight against various kinds of opponents, weapons and bad odds. And while Anny wasn't much of a brawler, she was big, strong and after years of running around making scams and fleeing angry neighbor kids, she was very fast and agile for her size. **However** ; Tee probably fought along side his brothers, all three of them watching out for various attacks and covering various openings, and if you add the fact that both his brothers were in bad shape and unable to help him, there was a chance that he wasn't as tough as he looked or at least his concern for his brothers would mean he wouldn't be as focused as he might normally be. Plus his hair was covering his eyes, he probably would have trouble seeing everything around him. And while Anny had the power and speed to be helpful in a fight, her fighting experiences consisted of: her getting beaten up when she was small and punching someone in the face and making them scurry away in fear once she got bigger. That was it.

Sam smiled shakily at his opponents, holding his slimy, bloody glass shard. To his surprise, Tee reached into the recycling bin, pulled out a glass bottle and flung it at Sam, his weapon sliding out of his hand as he ducked before the bottle could explode against his head. Not noticing that Anny was now beside him until she gave him a good kick in the side to push him into a nearby trashcan.

Garbage exploded in the air as he smashed into the can and knocked it over. Sam glanced down at it and smiled as Anny and Tee stood over him, the low light of the day creating dramatic shadows across their faces as they cracked their knuckles and smirked victoriously, he was unarmed, he was probably sore and unsteady and he was now completely at their mercy. Tee's blue tooth gleamed as they closed the distance, ready to give him the beating he deserved for his ruthless attacks on their fellow Ans and Kankers.

Sam pulled himself up, saw the looks on their faces and quickly ran around the trash can and kicked it so it would barrel towards them, making them split so they avoided being run over, allowing Sam a second to regroup.

He then raced towards Tee, which he immediately regretted. He had aimed for Tee because, while he was the more experienced of the two, he was smaller and had hair in his eyes. Sam figured he would be the easier of the two to try to take on one on one with his vision obscured and being the visibly physically weaker of the two.

What he didn't figure was that Tee would easily side step him, allowing Sam to charge forward so he could kick him so hard that he flew into the recycling bin, knocking it and him over and sending the other Ans scurrying away, pulling the wounded away from the fight as they did so, bottles and cans rolling after them.

Anny grabbed the little psycho by his shirt and yanked him up, ready to punch him in the face so far that he crashed into something else. She wasn't so much aiming for a bloodbath, although the urge to use this amusement park to give Sam the pain that karma owed him for the many years of his crap she and her friends had suffered was tempting as hell, he had nearly killed his own sister for calling him 'baby brother'. This kid was unstable to say the least and she knew that simply wearing him down was the smarter and safer option… well, they all could have run away and hid from him or something, but Jay was probably fighting off the grim reaper right now and Larie's vision was halved, they were in no condition to flee. And Anny wasn't gonna leave those guys behind, even if she wasn't fond of their brother, Jay had taken that hit for An and Larie defended Double-N before at school, he might have gotten hurt taking a few hits from Sam for her for all she knew. And anyone who would risk their own safety like that for her best friends were people who Anny would fight for any day.

She yanked him off the ground with one hand while the other one reeled back, ready to unleash a powerful punch to launch him into something that might hopefully knock him out before anyone else got hurt… Only for Sam to hold the top half of a glass bottle and wave it around wildly, hoping to cut her enough to get her to release him.

And, unfortunately, it worked, he sliced the top of her blouse and had left a long and (luckily) very shallow red line at the top of her bosom, he also left long, deep cuts in the arm holding him. Anny howled and let go of him, just like he wanted, making him smile as gravity did it's job and she cradled her bleeding arm near her oozing chest… only to kick him so hard that she launched him back towards Tee, who had his hands balled up above his head like a wrecking ball. Sam felt the red head's fists wham him into the ground, knocking the wind out of him and saw him lift his foot off the ground and rolled out of the way, hacking and wheezing while Tee stomped around, trying to crush the creep under his feet and keep him from hurting his brothers anymore than he already had.

Sam rolled behind him and swiped his broken bottle like a blade on the back of Tee's leg, making blood spurt from the wound, the Kanker letting out a loud cry as Sam watched the top half of the muscle fly up towards his knee and the bottom half fly towards his ankle before pushing the red head over. Sam looked down at the weird shape Tee's leg had taken as he curled up and wrapped his arms around his wounded leg, shaking and sweating with pain as he let out a high pitched hissing sound through his teeth, Sam surprised to see that one of them was blue.

"TEE!" Anny cried, trying not to pass out or vomit at the disturbing state of his leg.

"Gross…" Sam said, not clarifying if the muscle rolling up and down Tee's leg was gross or that his blue tooth was gross before walking over towards the remaining Ans and Kankers. The girls, cradling the brothers in their arms, their hands covered with blood as they pulling them closer when they realized he was coming their way, still armed with bloody glass.

"…Why?... Why are you doing this to us?" Double-N asked as he came closer, panic making her voice rise higher and higher as Sam closed the distance between them.

"Why?" he said, hysterical now as he started to laugh, "It only got like this because you guys weren't listening to me!"

"Wha-What are you talking about, Sam?" An stammered. Sam looked at the group around him, making sure he had everyone's attention before pointing to Larie, who Double-N pulled towards her, protectively, "Larie killed three people!" he laughed, "He's the reason Jamie's dead!"

"What are you talking about?" Anny grunted as she helped Tee off the ground, wincing due to moving her cut up arm to help heft his arm over her shoulder.

"He killed them! He stabbed Nate and he electrocuted Karen, the only reason he got away with it is because Jamie helped him!" Sam announced, "And now she's dead! She was killed earlier today because of LARIE KANKER!"

"… And… _why_ … would… he… do… that…?" Tee asked, out of breath and sweating profusely from the pain, he wiped away some sweat with the back of his hand, revealing intense blue eyes that seemed to cut through his flesh and allow him to see into Sam's soul.

"F-for Double-N, of course." Sam said, stammering a bit as he recovered from Tee's intense gaze, "He's obsessed with her! He killed Nate 'cause he was getting too close to her! He killed Karen 'cause she knew he did it and she'd been picking on him and Double-N! And since Jamie helped him, he's the reason she's dead too!" he then looked at Double-N with a smile that sent chills up her spine as he creepily told her, "But don't you worry, Double-N, _I'll protect you_." He reached to stroke her chin only for her to swat his hand away, " _ **NO**_!" she cried, tears sliding down her cheeks as she scooted away from him and pulled Larie with her, keeping pressure on his eye while she did so. " **STAY** _ **AWAY**_ **FROM ME!** " she cried.

"But… but… _I'm_ protecting you…" Sam stammered, confused and hurt by her words.

" _ **Protecting me?**_ " Double-N repeated, anger now present in her voice, "You _attacked_ us and then _accuse_ Larie of _murdering_ our classmates and your best friend! You nearly _killed_ your own sister and you want us to believe _Larie_ killed all those people! If _that_ is your definition of _protecting_ someone, then you are clearly _insane_! And I want _nothing to do with you_!"

Sam staggered backwards as if her declaration had just slapped him in the face, Jamie's words ringing in his ears; " _ **I**_ _ **volunteered**_ _to help him get Double-N as his girlfriend so_ _ **you**_ _would_ _ **finally**_ _get that_ _ **she doesn't like you like that and**_ _ **never will**_ _!_ " He clenched his fist, anger quickly replacing hurt as he looked down at Double-N, her expression swiftly changing from angry to fearful as he heard Jamie's voice declare that, "But do you know what? As long as Larie gets Double-N as his girlfriend, it'll be worth it because it'll mean I was right and that _she will never love you like-_ "

"GRAHHH!" Sam cried as he swung the broken bottle towards Double-N, who closed her eyes and trembled as she waited for the glass to hit her.

Only for a blood covered hand to grab the bottle at it's jagged, broken end before another fist flew up and landed under Sam's chin, sending him a few feet in the air before landing two feet farther away from Double-N, the bottle he had used smashing onto the ground between them.

" _You sure have some_ _ **God damned nerve,**_ _ **you little shit**_." A deep voice growled, "You just said you'd protect her and then you try smashing a bottle on her head?" Larie pushed off the ground, wobbling a bit at first due to his new lack of depth perception before steadying himself and cracking his knuckles.

"Larie!" Double-N and Tee cried, relieved before Larie staggered on his feeet and Double-N popped off the ground to help steady him, pressing her sweater back onto his eye and telling him to begin applying pressure onto his eye with his bleeding hand, that way he could put pressure on both while waiting for the paramedics.

Sam felt as if his limbs were made of jell-o as he struggled to get back up onto his feet, the shot to the jaw had messed him up more than he'd like to admit, but Double-N's rejection had messed him up more than that punch ever would. With Jamie's cold laughter and taunting voice telling him that Double-N would never love him and Double-N's cries for him to 'stay away from me!' and 'I want nothing to do with you!'

He gritted his teeth as he struggled to get up before his arms gave out beneath him and gravity slammed him against the ground. He heard sirens coming from the direction of the entrance as he panted on the ground. The Ans and Kankers decided that he was no longer a threat and that the police would be here soon and began addressing to their many injuries while waiting for the paramedics.

Sam took a few minutes to recover, his fury growing as he watched Double-N instruct Anny and Tee on how to stop the bleeding and ordered to not move his leg or risk further damaging his leg muscle.

If he couldn't have Double-N, then they couldn't have her either. His eyes darted around as he scanned his surroundings for some sort of weapon to use until they settled on a soda can near his arm. He grabbed it and began twisting it until a tear showed up on the center of the can and he was able to pull it into two jagged halves. He then pushed himself off the ground with all his strength and pushed forwards and began running.

When the Ans and Kankers didn't realize he was up on his feet, let alone running towards them with a sharp object, until he slammed against Anny and Tee, sending them backwards and with Tee landing on his bad leg, causing him to scream as fresh agonizing pain flooded through him. Anny nearly crashed onto him, but luckily she managed to stop herself with her hands, causing fresh pain to erupt from her cut up arm as well but biting back the pain while she looked back to see Sam hovering over Double-N with his new makeshift blade ready to slice into her. Larie quickly wrapping his arms around her protectively as Sam cried out, " **IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU, NO ONE CAN!** "

" _ **BABY BROTHER**_!"

Sam turned and opened his mouth to shout at her to stop calling him 'baby brother'… only for a bottle to smash into his forehead and knock him backwards onto the ground.

It was silent for a moment as everyone else turned to An, who turned away from her unconscious little brother and lowered her blood covered hand and placed it back on Jay's chest with her other hand.

"…An?" Double-N called. "Did… did you…"

"Did you just throw a bottle?" Anny asked, laughter in her voice. Although if it was because she was glad that An finally gave Sam a taste of what he'd been dishing to her for years or that she had stopped her maniac little brother from killing their friend, she didn't know and frankly, she didn't care, they were all safe now and that was all that mattered.

"…" An shook a bit before looking up towards her friends, upset and obviously feeling guilty before murmuring that, "…he crossed the line."

"You're certainly right about that, An." Double-N said softly as she knelt down beside her and began rubbing her back to calm her down. "About damn time you gave him a taste of his own medicine." Anny said proudly, "Now if you all will excuse me," she said, rolling up her sleeves, wincing a bit when she rolled up the sleeve on the bleeding arm. "I'm gonna make sure he knows what will happen if he ever does it again." She growled before walking over and began kicking Sam's limp body until the police and medics arrived and had to pull her away so they could arrest Sam and shove him into an ambulance with his hands handcuffed to his stretcher.

The Kankers were also placed into ambulances, the Ans wanted to go on with them, but the police informed them that they needed to talk to them first and promised to take them to the hospital to get checked out and then see the brothers afterwards. A paramedic inspected the girls to make sure they weren't in any danger by waiting a bit before going to the hospital. They were covered in quite a bit of blood, so they needed to take a quick trip to the bathroom to clean up. Double-N and Anny were surprised to see An using the soap dispenser while washing her hands and face, making it one of the few times An was ever willing to use soap to clean herself (it was understandable that she'd want to get her new boyfriend's blood off of her, but still…) They had bruises and a few cuts and scrapes and would probably need to get some tests done to make sure they were all completely okay, but they were healthy enough that they could give statements at the scene before heading to the hospital. The medic wrapped up Anny's arm and bandaged the cut on her chest as they gave their statements, they were then wrapped in trauma blankets before they slipped into the back of a police cruiser and were taken to the hospital, the three girls hugging each other tightly the whole way there, relieved that what had happened was finally over.

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Mr. Kanker got a call from the hospital while enjoying a hot meal and an old movie playing on one of the few channels they got without hijacking one of their neighbor's satellite dish. He scowled at his old fashioned flip phone, muttering that if it was work that he was calling the worker's union and informing them of all the off the book hours he had to work so he could afford to keep food in his family's bellies and a roof over their heads.

He looked at the number, it wasn't work. He pressed the green call button and managed to let out a gruff, "Whaddya want?"

"Mr. Kanker, this is Peach Creek Hospital, we are calling to inform you that your sons, Tee, Larie and Jay, have been brought in for emergency surgeries…" The man hopped out of the couch with the phone clutched to his ear as the person on the phone told him which hospital his children resided in and where that hospital was, knocking his meal onto the ground before racing into the kitchen, grabbing his car keys and racing outside to his crappy old truck.

The ride to the hospital was a blur of keeping his foot on the gas, flipping off people who were driving too slow and who couldn't figure out where they were going and swearing black and blue at them as he did so.

When he finally arrived, he wildly swerved into an open spot and ran into the building, blurting his boys' names to the woman at the front desk and the letters 'ER'.

She gave him directions and instructions and explained that the police might want to talk to him.

Naturally this did nothing to make him feel any better, but at least she had been upfront with him.

He got to the ER, told him he was the father of three boys that were in surgery and showed his ID to prove that he was who he said he was. The lady behind the desk at the ER told him that his sons were still undergoing surgery, but that she'd have a nurse explain the boy's injuries and what they planned to do to help them and that the police would probably like to speak with him as well.

"The police?" he echoed, "Why, my boys in trouble?"

"They didn't tell me why they wanted to talk to you, Mr. Kanker, but your boys are not in trouble, I assure you."

"How do you know?"

"Because if your boys had been in trouble, the officers who came in with them would either look annoyed or angry, they were very concerned for your children, so they aren't in any trouble." The woman explained.

He sighed, a teeny bit relieved, "at least that's some good news…"

He sat down and took deep breaths as the adrenaline in his blood waned, making him feel tired. He leaned back in the chair and pushed back some stray red curls, he was getting too old for this kinda shit.

A nurse came out into the waiting room and called out his name, he lifted an arm and she walked over to him, took a seat beside him and began telling him why his sons were here.

Tee had the muscle on the back of his leg slashed in half and the two halves of muscle flew to the only joint they were now attached to. They were concerned that when the muscles fled to the nearest joint, that they might have caused damage to the inside of his leg. She explained that once they fixed up his leg, he'd need to take antibiotics, stay off of his leg, use crutches, get physical therapy and with all that, he'd be good as new in a few months.

Larie had his hand cut up and was stabbed in the eye. Luckily his hand was okay, no nerves or major blood vessels had been damaged so once the cuts healed up, it'd be fine with a little physical therapy. His eye was an entirely different story. It was too damaged, they were currently trying to figure out if it was at risk of becoming infected, which, if that was the case, his eye would need to be surgically removed, if not, well, his middle child would walk around with a scarred, blind eye for the rest of his life.

Jay had been stabbed in the chest, and while the weapon missed major organs and blood vessels, he'd still need surgery to repair the damage done and they'd need to break his ribs to fix the internal damage, so his youngest son wouldn't be up and about for a while and would need to come back to make sure nothing healed wrong and have to do physical therapy.

Mr. Kanker felt as if he had aged ten years after the nurse was done reporting his children's statuses and went back into the ER. He hoped that his talk with the police wouldn't make him feel this bad too or he'd need to be wheeled back that there too. And he couldn't afford to miss work for too long, he had food to put on the table and a roof to keep over his head. Luckily, his children were able to get into such a good high school that he didn't have to pay for, it was only because they only just opened the school up to boys and figured giving them a free ride through all three years would get lots of boys to apply this year. It didn't, but his boys could now get a high school diploma from such a good school without him having to get another job or two to pay for it, which was good, since his sons wouldn't have been able to go to school otherwise and they'd be stuck doing crappy labor intensive jobs like him for the rest of their lives.

He shook his head, his boys would have bigger problems than being stuck in shitty blue collar jobs. He glanced around the room, looking for something, anything to pass some time until any of his sons were out of surgery. There were some old magazines, but since he didn't give a shit about the 'amazing new diet' nor did he care which celebrity was cheating on their spouse, so he glanced around, hoping to find someone around. Not that he felt very chatty, but just knowing that someone else was sitting in here, waiting for a loved one and feeling the agonizing weight of worry slowly crushing them until they were hunched over in their seats.

There were a few people here and there, but they all gave off a 'don't talk to me unless you're a medical professional' vibe so he was left with glancing around the room. He heard the automatic doors open and saw three girls get escorted to the front desk by a police officer and a man in a suit. The girls seemed shaken and had trauma blankets wrapped around themselves, but considering that their clothes seemed to have massive dried bloodstains on their clothes, it was understandable why they'd have the blankets. The woman behind the desk told the girls to take a seat and they'd call them when they could take them back. The girls nodded before glancing nervously around the room, only to sit in three empty seats not too far from his own, huddling together in their blankets, the uniformed officer spoke with the man in the suit before leaving. The man the suit then said something softly to the girls, they nodded in understanding. One of the girls, a red head with glasses, began murmuring something over and over again, tears pouring down her cheeks as the other two began either consoling or comforting her. He was curious as to what happened to those girls, but before he could reach out, the man in the suit appeared in front of him, "You Mr. Kanker?" he asked.

"Yeah?" he replied quickly, surprised that the man knew who he was.

"I'm Detective Riley," he said, showing him his badge to show he was being truthful, "I was hoping I could talk to you a bit about what happened tonight."

"Are you here ta ask me what happened or to tell me what happened?" the weary father asked.

"I'm telling you." Riley clarified as he motioned to the seat beside him, "Mind if I sit next to you? I've been on my feet for hours and I could use a moment to rest."

"Been there." Mr. Kanker replied as he motioned him to take a seat.

"Thanks." The detective said, truly grateful as he plopped down next to him, "Oh sweet Jesus…" he moaned, making the father chuckle a bit before he looked at him with a serious expression and spoke quietly, "Your sons were attacked by a boy that we currently believe murdered three other students from their school. According to witnesses and the three girls who were also attacked, Laurie-"

"Larie" Mr. Kanker corrected, not bothering to keep his voice down and catching one of the girls, a girl with long black hair, attention and making her turn towards the men, her eyes wide at the mention of his second child's name.

"Larie," the detective repeated in a soft tone, upon seeing Mr. Kanker nod to confirm he had said it correctly, he continued, "Larie was attacked first, the suspect apparently had climbed up to a roof and got the jump on him and a girl named Anna Marie, stabbing Larie in the eye."

"Why did he go for Larie first?"

"The suspect seems to be obsessed with Anna Marie," he said, the girl flinched as if she had been punched, and looked down at her shaking hands, her friends took noticed and began seeing if she was okay. Riley seemed to have noticed this too, but he kept his eyes on the worried father before him and continued, "Apparently he didn't like that she seemed to be enjoying Larie's company instead of his. Anna Marie was trying to perform first aid when the suspect demanded she move away from your son. When she refused, the culprit flung her away from him and cut him when he tried to see if she was alright. The suspect's sister, An, with one N, and your youngest, Jay, saw the commotion and tried to take control of the situation before it escalated. The suspect then attempted to stab his own sister, only for your son to step between them to protect her, getting stabbed in the process."

Mr. Kanker saw the largest girl of the trio, who had pink hair and a bloody bandage on her arm and under a cut part of her blouse, grab both of the other two girls' arms and hiss something at them before pulling them into a big hug with her good arm and mouthing something he couldn't hear.

"Your eldest, Tee, and a girl named Anny, confronted the suspect, attempting to either contain or knock out him. He slashed the back of Tee's leg and cut Anny's arm and chest before shouting at the rest of them and accusing Larie for killing his classmates."

"He _what_?" Mr. Kanker cried, pushing himself out of his chair, making every eye in the room turn to him, Detective Riley looked at him with a stern expression and hissed at him to sit down. He did, but only because the two girls who had gotten upset looked ready to break down into loud, pitiful tears and he didn't want any of that on his conscious.

"Anna Marie told him off and he tried to attack her, but Larie stopped him."

"So my boy stopped a psycho?" He asked, a little pride in his voice.

"He _helped_." Riley said awkwardly, feeling bad for having to rain on the man's parade, "he almost did, but the culprit's sister threw a glass bottle at his head and that knocked him out."

The woman behind the desk called, "Anny McGee, we're ready for you." The girls got up and followed a nurse through a pair of doors by the front desk, not making eye contact with anyone as they left.

"… Seriously?" Mr. Kanker finally asked, a little impressed.

"Yeah, poor girl, she really didn't want to hurt him. She never wanted to hurt anyone..."

"I never wanted to be in the emergency room waiting for my sons." Mr. Kanker said, looking at the doors the girl's vanished behind, "Life is full of painful things ya can't avoid. No matter how much you wish you could."

"Ain't that the truth." Riley sighed.

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Tee woke up feeling groggier than usual, his body heavy and his movements sluggish. He groaned as he pulled himself into a sitting position, one of his legs feeling stiff and pained as he did so and slapped his hand around where the alarm clock normally was, wondering if he simply got up too early or something, after his dream of having fun with Anny at the amusement park suddenly taking a dark turn, it would be understandable if he woke up in the middle of the night… but the alarm clock wasn't there. There was a metal bar, but no clock… And why was it so bright in here? He and his brothers always kept the shades down, so it was hardly ever bright in the room when they had to get up early for school…

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and finally got a good look around the room.

Well, the reason the alarm clock wasn't where it supposed to be because he wasn't in the room he shared with his brothers back home. So where was he?

He winced as he tried to push himself out of bed so he could get up and explore a bit, pain radiating from the same leg that ached when he got up. He scowled, annoyed that he couldn't get up, when he finally noticed that tubes were connected to his arms.

Tee felt anxiety flood through his veins.

It _had_ been just a nightmare… _Right_?

He yanked the covers off of his body and saw the leg that had hurt so much… and that it was wrapped up in bandages, as if he broken it. He attempted to lift it, to see any kind of evidence that the back of his leg _had_ been cut open by a little psycho, only for his usual boundless strength to fail him, he could barely lift his leg.

He glanced up at the baggy attached to his left arm, there was a ridiculously long word on it that he couldn't make heads or tails of, but assumed it was medicine due to the numbers and letters 'ml' under it, which he assumed was the dosage… or maybe the strength? Fuck, he didn't know. All he knew was that whatever it was, it probably was why he felt funny. It also was probably why he wasn't doubled over in massive amounts of pain. He was so overwhelmed by the fact that what had happened yesterday _really happened_ , he didn't notice the doorknob turn nor did he hear the door open.

"'Bout time you woke up." A raspy voice called from the doorway, making him look up to see who had opened the door.

"Anny?" he called, looking her up and down, concerned. Her long pink hair was messy and her eyes had bags under them… or maybe that was remained of her mascara? It was hard to tell and he knew better than to ask. She wore different clothes than she had the night before, which was good because, while Tee was clueless when it came to fashion, he knew blood stains were not something you wanted to be seen on your clothes. Or anywhere on you, really. She wore a pink tank and a fresh pair of jeans, her bleeding arm wrapped up and put into a sling.

Judging by her appearance, he guessed that she hadn't gone home to wash up or rest and that her parents probably brought her a fresh change of clothes to change into.

Speaking of clothes…

"What happened to my pants?" He croaked, indicating the pant leg that had obviously been removed while the other was still intact.

"They had to get to yer leg pretty fast and they didn't have time ta strip ya." Anny explained, "So they just cut the leg of yer pants off." She smiled a bit before adding that; "Still, you should feel lucky that they left most of it on ya."

"I do feel lucky." He replied coolly, folding his arms behind his head and leaning back as he explained that, "If you saw what I'm packin', well," he gave her a tired toothy grin, his blue tooth gleaming as he purred about how, "we'd have a lot of sleepless nights..."

"In your dreams!" she laughed. They laughed for a few minutes until the seriousness of the situation smothered their smiles and made the room silent.

"You okay?" he asked, indicating her arm. She turned so her sling was out of the room and out of his line of sight, her back against the doorframe. "I'm _fine_." She said, as if annoyed.

"Sorry, just askin'." Tee said, holding his hands up in surrender. "Sorry," Anny huffed, I'm just tired of people askin' me that. An and Double-N asked me that so many times when they were patchin' me up…" She looked at it, a concerned expression on her face, "my arm is like having a paper cut compared to what happened to you and your brothers…"

"Jay… Larie…" he said, his stomach suddenly feeling as if it was filled with cement.

"They're alive." Anny said, cutting him off before he could unleash the avalanche of questions, concerns and threats to Sam's life for what he did to his brothers, "You were the first out of surgery, yer dad stayed with ya for over an hour before Larie was let out, then I watched over ya while he and Double-N went to sit with him."

"My dad?" Tee repeated, his throat suddenly dry, "He's here?"

"Yeah. Got here a little before you were let out. He's with Jay now, they let him out of surgery a few hours ago. An's with him," Anny took a deep breath and explained that, "Yer leg was an easy fix, apparently. You'll be sore for a while and won't be able to walk without crutches and you'll need physical therapy, but you should be good as new in a few months."

"A few _months_?!" He blurted.

"Compared to your brothers, you got off the easiest." Anny firmly interjected, "Larie's hand will be okay, no nerve damage or anything, probably have to have some therapy too, but…" she closed her eyes, sucked in another breath and let it out before softly informing Tee that, "the doctors said his eye was too damaged and had a high risk of getting infected…" her voice became thick with emotion as she informed him that, "They couldn't save it." She shook as she glanced at him, her face filled with pity that she obviously wished she could hide better, "I'm so sorry, Tee…"

Tee felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room, because of that shitty little psycho, his brother lost an _eye_ , and for what? He gripped the metal bars on either side of his bed, closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose. He held it in for a few seconds before letting it back out, he did this two more times before he could finally speak, "And Jay?"

Anny reached to rub her arm, stopped herself, then stuffed her free hand in her pocket, "Like I said, he just got out of surgery a little while ago, lucky for him, Sam missed his heart and major arteries and veins and stuff, but they still had to crack his ribs open to fix him up, so he'll be here for a while…"

"But he's alive."

"Yeah. And he'll get better." Anny said, her voice soft.

"How are An and Double-N?"

"They ain't bleeding or bruised, but…" She shifted her weight from foot to foot, obviously uncomfortable.

"But?" Tee prompted, motioning for her to sit in the chair next to him.

She did, she then tried to fold her arms across her chest, flinched when brushing against her sling and bandage, then settled for scowling and clenching her fists as Tee patiently waited for her to speak.

"The police…" she huffed, "They say that they think Sam killed…" she opened her mouth to say the names of the kids who had died in the past two weeks, but nothing came out of her mouth. She took in a deep breath, "They think he killed the others because he's obsessed with Double-N. Apparently he had a creepy closet shrine filled with pictures of her and had some of her stuff in there too. And with all the stuff we sent them showing all the times he beat the crap out of An, hopefully they can send his ass to prison forever for what he did to my friends."

"Do we need to make statements?"

"You, Larie and Jay do, we all gave ours last night. But An, Double-N and me hafta go down to the station so we can identify shit and confirm all the stories and pictures we sent him."

"What do ya have to identify?"

"We sent up an e-mail that would be sent to the police if we didn't input a password by a certain time everyday, it was full of all the shit he did to An, so we've gotta confirm that those actually happened and…" Anny's scowl deepened, "He had some of Double-N's stuff, she has to confirm that it's hers."

"Shouldn't be too hard, she's the only person I know who has little blue labels on all her stuff that tell ya what it is." Tee commented, making Anny's scowl lessen into a small smile before it sank into a small frown and she leaned her head back against the wall, and looked at him, "Can I ask ya something?"

"Go for it."

"The police wanted the three of us to watch as they interrogate Sam later, so they don't have to stop halfway and confirm something and then go back to interrogating him and giving him time to think of a way to weasel his way outta this."

"And?"

"I don't want An and Double-N in there." Anny said firmly, "They blame themselves for what happened yesterday, they kept thinking that they should have noticed something sooner or had been stricter with him and shit." She shook her head and spoke bitterly, "The first time Sam can't blame his shit on one of us, and they're sitting by your brothers blaming themselves for what he did…" She rubbed at her eyes, frustrated, "I can't let them hear Sam pull his usual blame game bullshit, if they hear him say something like that it's their fault…"

"Then they'll blame themselves for what happened for the rest of their lives, won't they?" Tee guessed. Anny nodded, "I ain't gonna let that little shit hurt my friends ever again," she declared before asking, "So, you comin'?"

"You mean I could have a front row seat to watch this kid hang himself out to dry?" he asked with an impish smirk, "Wouldn't miss that! But yer gonna have to get me outta here since I ain't ready to be runnin' around just yet."

Anny smiled deviously back as she walked back into the hallway and pushed a wheelchair into the room, "the cops will be here in an hour to pick us up, wanna check on your brothers before we go?"

"Sounds good to me." He said smoothly before a nurse came in, scolded them for trying to slip out before she could check to make sure Tee was okay before he could roll around the hospital to visit his brothers. After a quick check up and scribbling on a chart, she told them they could see his brothers and gave them their room numbers.

Anny had a difficult time pushing him in the wheel chair with one arm, luckily the nurse was nice enough to help push him to visit his unconscious brothers for a little while before the police picked them up, nurse included (incase Tee or Anny needed emergency medical care) and took them to the station.

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Ann decided to leave Larie's room for a few minutes to check on An and Jay (since Anny and Tee said they were going to the hospital so 'he could make his statement'), leaving Larie in his room under a kind nurse's care while she swapped out his meds and checked his condition, informing her that she could stay for ten minutes before she'd have to go to her next patient. Ann knew that nurses had to be constantly moving, so she appreciated her kindness to stay with him while she quickly would check on An and Jay. She walked at a brisk pace as she made her way to Jay's room, feeling a bit uneasy leaving Larie's side. He received stitches and would have to do physical therapy for a bit for his hand, but it was nothing compared to what had happened to his eye. She had felt as if she had been stabbed when the doctor informed her and Mr. Kanker that his left eye had to be surgically removed due to the glass Sam had used to stab his eye already having blood on it, so they had to remove it or risk him having a horrible infection form in his eye.

She was almost to Jay's room, she knew An would be there, she had been there since Jay had been released, but she was kind of hoping that the Kankers' father would not be present. It had been awful enough to hear the detective tell him that Sam attacked his children because he was obsessed with her, but it had been horrible when she and An had started crying and apologizing over and over and over again for what Sam had done to his sons while Anny was getting her sling and couldn't try to tell them that it wasn't their fault and not to apologize to him.

Mr. Kanker gently placed his hands on their shoulders, "You girls ain't responsible for this shit," he said plainly, "The cop said that the person who hurt my boys was a psycho." An winced a bit at her brother being described as a psycho, "Psychos don't give a shit if they hurt anyone." He gave them both a weary smile as he said that, "The person who did this wouldn't be standing here, crying for my boys and apologizing as much as you two have." She and An felt a little relieved as he went on to say that, "I don't know why you two feel guilty about something you two obviously didn't do, but how about you two focus that attention on helping my boys feel better." They nodded, wiping at their faces as Anny popped up behind them, "That's what I told 'um!" She cried, annoyed that they had gone against her suggestion to not apologize for shit they didn't do.

After that, an officer called them over while Mr. Kanker talked to a doctor. The officer told them that they found a bunch of evidence in Sam's room and asked that they go to the police station to help them identify some things they had found…

Including some things of her own that she had either thrown away or thought to be lost. She had felt faint when the officer informed her that her things were found in a creepy closet shrine Sam had wallpapered with photos he had taken of her without her knowing it.

An began to cry again and apologized to her, saying that she should have seen it sooner or been stricter with him, but Ann and Anny had cut her off before she completely broke down, Ann telling her that she should have been more aggressive about finding her missing items and noticed someone taking photos of her until Anny exploded, "ARE YOU TWO FUCKING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW? SERIOUSLY! THIS IS THE FIRST TIME HE CAN'T BLAME US FOR SOMETHING HE DID AND YOU TWO ARE BLAMING YOURSELVES FOR HIM!" She looked at Ann, "He was being a creepy stalker, the fact that you didn't notice ain't your fault, you didn't know you were being stalked, so how could you have done anything about it?" She then looked at An, "And just because you're his big sister doesn't mean you have to feel bad every time Sam does nasty shit to people. _You_ weren'tdoing that shit, _he_ was. And even if either of ya figured out what he was doing, there's a good chance that he might have tried to kill you two if you got in his way!" Anny looked at her friends with hurt expressions, "When Nate died, it really sucked. When Karen died, it sucked, when we found out about Jamie being dead we were kinda dealing with other shit, but now that it's over, it sucks. But…" Anny began to shake, "i-if I lost e-either of you guys…" Her voice cracked with emotion as her eyes began filling with tears, "You two are practically my sisters, if I lost either one of you like that, I'd never forgive myself for not being with ya ta help." She wiped at her face, "So don't apologize for not knowing and getting out of what happened last night alive."

Then Ann and An had a whole new reason to apologize as they pulled their large, sassy, pink haired friend into a hug and bawled their eyes out before their parents arrived with frightened faces and bulky bags. When they saw that their children were _not_ half dead or confined to wheelchairs or breathing through a tube, they were relieved to say the least.

Ann smiled as she recalled her parents pulling her into a warm, tight hug and thanking every deity they could think of that she was alright. All of their parents were eager to get them home, where they knew they would be safe with them, but all three Ans declined, explaining that they couldn't leave until they knew that the ones who had helped save them were alright.

They were a little uneasy, but very understanding. They gave them fresh clothes to change into, explaining that the police asked them to bring some clothes for them so they could take the clothes they had been wearing as evidence, and plenty of snacks and some items to help them freshen up.

Ann had felt a little better after changing her clothes and using the tooth brush and comb her mother brought her, Anny also changed her clothes and brushed her teeth, but before she could begin fixing her hair, Larie had been released. Mr. Kanker wanted to see his middle child, but he couldn't just abandon his eldest one. So Anny volunteered to stay with Tee while he checked on Larie, her hair still a mess as she sat with him. An was too busy crying with her parents as they told her that Sam was currently in a different hospital with a few injuries but he was currently under arrest and as she apologized for throwing a bottle at his head to stop him from hurting her brainy companion to do much other than change her clothes before Jay was out of surgery and she sat by his side, silent tears falling down her face as she clung to his hand.

Her father had brought her newest Royal Entomological Society for her to read while she waited for Larie to wake up, she thanked both her parents while silently noting the irony that the book that she had been reading when she had first began talking with Larie Kanker was brought for her to read while waiting for him to awake from surgery he wouldn't have needed if Sam, who was fueled by jealous anger that she was spending time with Larie and not him, had not attacked him.

She grabbed at her clean violet skirt as she bit her lip, a little of it popping out from the gap between her two front teeth and tried to hold back tears that would inevitably leave dark spots on her red, sleeveless, cowl neck blouse for An to see.

No. She would _not_ cry and blame herself anymore. An was having a hard enough time already, with her brother in a holding cell with three counts of murder and several counts of attempted murder and assault as well as a stalking charge on his head, her brand new boyfriend out cold in a hospital bed, and the press would probably hound her family as soon as Sam's arrest was made public. She had so much to deal with and she didn't want to make An worry about her and feel as if she needed to comfort her when she would soon be overwhelmed with concerns and troubles. She took a few breaths and glanced into the room to see An hunched over in her seat, sleeping while clutching Jay's hand. An had changed into a red and white tank top and a green vest and jeans, her usual outfit whenever they were out of school. She was snoring and drooling a bit, her eyes were still red and puffy from crying and there was a trail of dried snot from where she had wiped her nose on the back of her wrist.

"How's Larie?" A tired voice called from behind her, making her jump a bit before turning to see, "Oh, Mr. Kanker, I hadn't seen you there. Larie's condition is stable and he hasn't woken up yet, so I thought I would pop in for a bit to check on An and Jay."

"Jay hasn't woken up yet, but An finally clonked out after Tee and the pink haired girl…"

"Anny." Ann supplied.

"Yeah, she finally fell asleep after they dropped by." Mr. Kanker informed her.

"That's a relief." She said as she draped a spare blanket the nurse had left on the counter top where An's parents had left food and a few handheld video games in a bag for her and gently draped it over her friend's huddled shoulders, making a tiny smile appear on her face. "An has had suffer through so much these past few weeks and she'll have so much more she'll have to tolerate after Jay wakes up. She deserves some rest from the ordeals we endured yesterday before addressing all those troubles…"

"Yeah…" he was quiet for a moment before asking, "Ya know yer friend went to the station with Tee to watch that kid get questioned by the cops."

"I assumed as much." She confirmed before wiping a bit of drool off of her friend's chin with a handkerchief her mother had loaned her, "And I'm grateful that Tee went with her in our place, I highly doubt that either An or I could endure watching them question him but neither of us would want Anny to go there alone."

"Tee will watch out for her, don't you worry." Mr. Kanker promised.

"I'm not worried about that." She assured him as she gently stroked a few stray hairs out of An's face before walking towards the door, "I'm more concerned about the state of health of your children and my friends at the moment than if Tee will look out for Anny, as I already know I can trust him with her life." She bowed her head in Mr. Kanker's direction before saying, "I'm going back to sit with Larie, if the doctors have anymore information concerning his condition, I will let you know immediately."

"Thanks." He said gruffly as she slipped through the doorway and walked back to Larie's room, hoping he had not woken up and saw that no one he knew was there.

When she arrived at Larie's room, the nurse informed her that Larie was still out like a light, much to her relief.

She took her seat by his bed and looked at his hands, recalling how An had been holding Jay's while she had been sleeping. Should she…?

Her face turned pink as she glanced down at her own hands, if she held his hand for a little while, would that mean that their relationship was more than just friendship?

She looked from her hands to his and back, her cheeks burning into a deeper color as her mind raced. Finally she closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she gently inched her fingers towards his bandage free hand until she felt her fingers brush against his and quietly let it out as she opened her eyes, a tingly feeling flowing from his fingers into her own.

Larie groaned and began to stir, Ann clutched his hand tightly with both of her own as she watched his non-bandaged eye blink open before he squinted, although if it was because it was brighter in the hospital than he was used to waking up to or if his vision was off due to just having an eye taken out of his head, she was uncertain.

One thing she was certain about was that she was very glad that he was awake.

"Good Morning Larie." She greeted softly. He flushed and turned to her, "Muffin?" he called weakly.

"Muffin?" she chuckled, making his pink cheeks turn red, "My, you must be hungry if that's the first thing you can think of."

"No!" he blurted, before explaining in a tired voice that, "Well, I mean, I _am_ pretty hungry, but, um…" he looked at her sheepishly, "I kinda call ya that in my head sometimes…"

"May I ask why?" she asked, her smile growing wider the longer he was awake.

"Only if I can ask if we can keep holding hands." He replied with a small smile as he gently closed his fingers over hers. She flushed and had difficulty speaking for a moment before nodding shyly. Larie's face brightened as he explained that "I call ya 'Muffin' cause..."

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Anny and Tee watched as Sam snoozed on the table in an interrogation room, he had been taken to a different hospital and then been brought to the station and placed into an interrogation room when they had arrived and apparently had a hissy fit when no one came to see him after ten minutes. Tee gave his statement while Anny identified some of her friend's things and confirmed several of the many stories she and Double-N had sent the police last night when they hadn't put in the password into their e-mail full of Sam's years of hurting their friend. Apparently that e-mail helped them a lot, it showed them that Sam had a history of violence and with that and the rest of the evidence, they could convince a jury to lock him away for good.

Detective Riley walked into the interrogation room, a thick manilla folder, a tablet and a small book in an evidence baggy tucked under his arm, then he slammed the door shut to wake Sam with a start.

And it worked, Sam jumped a the sound as Riley walked to the chair opposite him and put everything on the table, "Oh, sorry, did I wake you?" Riley asked, annoyingly chipper, "I'm Detective Riley, you're Sam, right?"

"What took you so long to get here?" Sam snapped, annoyed.

"We had to gather some things, ya know," he patted the stack in front of him, "Making sure we got all our facts straight."

"If you had your facts straight, Larie Kanker would be in here, not me." Sam snapped.

"Larie Kanker? Oh, you mean one of the boys you attacked yesterday?"

"YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHO I MEAN!" Sam cried, "HE'S THE REAL CRIMINAL!"

Riley looked at him in mock surprise and opened the file and thumbed through a few pages, "You say that, but according to witnesses, you came out of nowhere and stabbed Larie in the eye for no reason." He looked up at him, a thoughtful pout on his face as he said, "What crime did he do for you to feel as if you had to stab him in the eye?"

"I wasn't _aiming_ for his eye, it was his fault for looking up when he did!" Sam clarified, "And besides, he killed Nate, Karen and Jamie-!"

"Do you have proof that he did that?"

"… No… But I know he did it! He's go no alibi for Nate and Karen's murders!"

"Neither do _you_." The detective retorted, "You were the first to find Nate's body, which was, oddly enough, on the _middle school roof_ instead of the _high school roof_. You were also seen close to the bathroom Karen died around the time she died, you were the last one to see her alive and you were not in class until _after_ the lights flickered," the cop knitted his fingers together and asked, "Which is odd since middle school students aren't usually in the high school building without a reason…"

"I forgot my lunch and didn't have any money, I went to the high school building to ask my sister if I could borrow some lunch money!" Sam explained quickly, hoping that, if he explained fast enough, they could have plenty of time to arrest Larie before it was too late.

"Really?" Riley said, glancing at a page in the file, "Because, according to your last statement, you actually hadn't forgotten your lunch, and you actually went to her classroom so you could see what Jay Kanker was like since your sister seemed to be interested in him. Were you lying back then?"

Sam stiffened, he had forgotten about that, he then looked up at the detective and said, "Not exactly, I mean, I _was_ curious to see what Jay Kanker was really like, I mean, I went to an elementary school close to their old middle school, I heard stories about how ruthless and scary they were, so I was wondering if the rumors I heard back then were true. But I mainly went in there because I overheard Karen muttering something about a Kanker taking a knife she used in cooking class to frame her and I wanted to know which one it was. When they told me that she had accused Larie Kanker for Nate's murder and was messing with him, that's when I began to suspect him. But I _did_ give my lunch to a classmate of mine who forgot hers, so I really _didn't_ have a lunch when I went to An for lunch money and I really did go to the cafeteria after she gave me a five to get lunch."

One of the cops back with Anny and Tee looked to the teens for confirmation, Anny nodded bitterly, "He did, An gave him a five to buy lunch. Looked like he headed to the high school cafeteria after that, but we didn't see him head back towards the middle school building afterwards."

"How else could he have gotten back?" A cop asked them.

"There are only a few ways to get to the middle school building from the high school cafeteria," Anny stated. "Yeah," Tee agreed, "if you don't pass our classroom, you could use the roof…

"No, you couldn't, no one was allowed up there after Nate's murder, remember?" Anny reminded him before saying that, "So the only ways he could have gotten back to the middle school was to either go outside, run around the side of the high school building and run to the middle school building, or he could go to the second floor and walk through the halls in the high school to the library and get to the middle school building…"

"Would he pass the bathroom Karen died in if he decided to use the second floor hallway?" One of the cops asked softly.

"Yeah, he'd hafta if he'd wanna get back to the middle school building." Anny confirmed with another nod.

"So why didn't you head to the middle school building after your sister gave you lunch money?" Riley asked, unaware of the conversation happening behind the two way mirror.

"I was hungry!" Sam snapped, "I did give away my lunch and I did have money to buy something to eat and the cafeteria was close to An's classroom, so I figured I could eat there, so I did! You can check, there are probably a bunch of people who saw me!"

"…" Riley took in the information and sighed, "What class did you have after lunch?"

"Gym." Sam said, "I had to go downstairs to change in the first floor bathroom."

"Why did you have to go downstairs?," Riley asked, "Were you on the second floor?"

"Yeah, there aren't as many people in the halls on the second floor during lunch time so I figured I could get back to the middle school if I went that way." Sam explained, staying on the defensive, he had a feeling that this detective was going to try to nail Larie's murders on him, and while he might have had a small part in Jamie's death, he sure as hell had nothing to do with Nate's or Karen's and refused to be blamed for something he didn't do.

"You sure know a lot about your school for being there for such a short period of time," the detective complimented, "I thought that your school was a girl's only one until this year."

"It was," Sam confirmed, "But my sister has been going to Peach Creek Academy for years, ever since her first year of middle school and they host lots of events that are open for friends and family to come, so I knew enough about this kinda stuff so I wouldn't get lost or stuck in a crowded hallway when I started..." he suddenly realized something and frowned at the officer before blurting out that "But just cause I know my way around doesn't mean I killed Nate and Karen! Like I keep saying, LARIE KANKER is the one who killed them, he's the one obsessed with Double-N, not me!"

"I never accused you of being obsessed with anyone, especially not Anna Marie."

"Y-yeah, well, you made it sound like I was, and I'm not! Larie is the crazy stalker, not me!" Sam insisted, Tee snarled at the boy behind the glass only for Anny to put her hand over one of his clenched fists and giving him an expression that silently promised that the detective would see through his bullshit.

"Oh really?" Riley said, pulling a small stack of pages from the file and putting them on the desk, revealing them to be pictures of Double-N walking home with her friends, her cooking dinner in her home, Double-N at a sleep over with her friends in her night gown, going shopping for school supplies, and one where she was in her bathrobe with a shower cap on and had a towel over her arm and more on one side of the table and pulled out three pages from the file and placed them on the other side.

Sam, Anny and Tee leaned over to get a good look at the new photos, which, compared to the pictures of Double-N, weren't as clear or colorful. The first was of Tee, Larie and Jay making faces for the camera, the second was a picture taken of a page with a butterfly with white wings with red tips with the words 'Crimson Tipped Butterfly' above, and the final one was of Jay and An bashfully waiting in line for the tunnel of love ride.

The last photo made all three of them react in various ways, Anny was pleased but dumbfounded as she wondered how the hell Jay Kanker got An to go anywhere near that ride, let alone convince her to go on it with him. Tee had to keep from jumping out of his wheelchair, crying out, "WAY TO GO, JAY! THAT'S MY LITTLE BRO!" while pumping his fists and pointing at the photo. But due to his injuries and the fact that he might get kicked out before Sam confessed to everything if he was too loud, he instead smirked and purred, "Nice one, Jay."

Sam looked at the last photo, looking as if he was seeing a photo from the twilight zone, a dimension where his older sister was a mushy gushy love story kind of girl who was bashfully entering a romantically themed ride with a boy instead of being the kind of girl who willingly bathed in gravy, loved stupid old b-monster movies and would turn green whenever someone brought up the subject of romance with the opposite gender instead of farm animals of the same gender.

"Who photoshopped this?" he asked, holding up the photo in question, "Cause they did a really shitty job."

"It's not photoshopped." Riley assured him, "The phone we got this off of is too old for that kind of thing, it barely can take pictures, let alone can alter them."

"It has to be! My stupid sister would never go anywhere near anything with the word 'love' in the title…" Sam paused, "Okay, she might until someone read the name of whatever it was out loud for her. And even if she _could_ muster up the courage, she'd probably take one of our neighbor's chickens to go with her, not a male human being."

"Uh, why…?" one of the cops began to ask Anny before she cut her off with a flat "She just likes chickens, okay?"

"Really? Because according to your sister, Jay asked her if she wanted to go out with him yesterday at the amusement park and she said yes. They decided to give the ride a try since neither of them knew much about romantic relationships."

"WHAT?!" Anny and Sam shouted in unison, Anny was shushed and warned that if she didn't keep quiet, she'd have to leave the room while Riley smiled triumphantly at Sam as he looked at the photo in his shaking hands. Tee simply bit his lip so he wouldn't start loudly cheering for his brother's accomplishment (although they were aiming for Larie to get his girl while at the amusement park yesterday, he was glad that at least one of them managed to get a girlfriend out of that trip) and was resolved to tell the rest of the family the good news.

"Yes! So congratulations, you ruined your sister's first date and nearly killed her only to stab her new boyfriend instead!" Riley announced cheerfully.

Sam paled and grabbed at his hair, if his mother ever found out about this, she was going to _kill_ him. After a few moments of being paralyzed in sheer terror at the thought of what his mother would do if she ever found out about Sam ruining his older sister's first date, he steeled himself, hopefully once he convinced the police that Larie was the real culprit, they'd keep quiet about him wrecking his sister's first date… or at least make it so it wasn't entirely his fault… hopefully…

"The three random photos are from Larie Kanker's phone, the stack over here," He said, putting his hand on top of the pile of photos of Double-N on the table, "Are all of Anna Marie and are all from _your_ phone, Sam. And many pictures we found in your phone we also found in your closet, along with several items that Anny McGee claims to either belong to Anna Marie or had belonged to her at some point in time."

"There's no way she could tell that!" Sam snorted, calling his bluff.

"Well, she said there was an easy way to tell if they belonged to Anna Marie," Riley said as he pulled a photo of a toothbrush they had unearthed from his creepy closet shrine, "She said that if there was a label on it, then it probably belonged to her and, will you look at that!" he said cheerfully as he indicated a blue label on the item that read 'Toothbrush'.

"If we compare the evidence, well, it would seem that you are the one obsessed with Anna Marie, not Larie."

Sam mentally kicked himself, he should have deleted those photos before his parents confiscated his phone! He also should have found a better hiding spot for his shrine, but he could do nothing about that now, he was just going to have to try harder to convince them that he was not the Crazed Murderer of Peach Creek Academy.

"So I took some pictures," Sam said, "Doesn't mean I hurt anybody."

"Well, actually, some of these photos are quite private, so you _were_ actually hurting Anna Marie. I mean, what if someone broke into your home, found these pictures and sold them to some 17 and under site? She would be ogled at by perverts and sickos and it would be all your fault." Sam winced as the man went on to say that, "And, according to Nate's parents, he had loaned you his spare gym uniform the first week of school, after you left yours at home, so you'd know about it."

"Nate probably told the Kanker brothers about that too!"

The cops looked to Tee, "Never heard him offer until Larie got soaked with water the day he died, he coulda offered it to my brothers before without me knowing, but I doubt it."

"Maybe," the cop said with a shrug, "But Larie had no reason to kill Nate, he was loaning him dry clothes."

"How do you know that Nate's spare gym uniform wasn't in his locker with the note?" Sam asked, gaining confidence now that he could poke holes in the police's theory that he was a killer, "All you have is Larie Kanker's word that the uniform wasn't there, for all you know, it was and when Nate went up to the roof, Larie put on the spare and killed him and got rid of the bloody uniform before anyone noticed and changed into his regular one. No one would question it if he was in his regular uniform since gym was probably over by the time he was done!"

The detective sat quietly, a pensive expression on his face as he considered everything Sam had just said, "Alright, fine, if Larie Kanker's story is not true than how did Nate end up on the roof, there was no sign of the murder happening anywhere else nor was there a sign that anyone moved the body before you found it?" he asked him.

"I didn't say all of it wasn't true." Sam huffed, annoyed, "We know that they went in to get the spare, but what if it was there and Larie encouraged Nate to meet Karen on the roof? Then Larie would have time to change, sneak up to the roof, kill him, change and then go to class like nothing happened."

"Then how come only Karen's fingerprints were on the knife?"

"Because he got some gloves, duh." Sam scoffed, couldn't these people be bothered to do their damn jobs? "Jamie was helping the high school drama class by checking out their costumes, she probably left a pair of gloves out in the open and he got them."

"That's an oddly specific way to get a pair of gloves," Riley examined, "especially since it would probably be easier to just sneak into the science lab and grab a pair of those gloves. So Sam, why do you believe that your best friend would leave a pair of gloves out for him instead of him simply stealing a pair of latex gloves from one of the labs?"

"Because, after Nate died and we found that note with the kiss mark in his hands, I recognized it, Jamie had pulled something similar out of the trash last week and hid it from me when I walked over to her. Plus I found it weird that she offered to help the high school drama club with their costumes, which was weird enough since she could help the middle school drama club and let the high school handicraft club members deal with the high school drama club, but that she said she offered to help them for the school festival, which when she told me that, was two months away. So I was on to her pretty quick and began working from there…"

"And you didn't report this earlier because…?"

"It was a working theory! I had no proof that she actually was involved until I asked her about it yesterday!"

"So instead of calling the police and telling them your 'theory', you decided to sneak out of the house, confront Jamie, push her out the window, take her ticket to the amusement park and her diary, take a cab and pay for it with money that came out of her diary (according to the driver) and attack Larie Kanker, your sister, your crush, their best friend and Larie's brothers to prove your theory?" Riley asked, he then added coolly that, "They're all going to be alright, by the way."

"I just wanted to stop him from hurting anyone else!" Sam insisted.

"By doing that yourself?" Riley scoffed.

"No! He's dangerous! He killed three people-"

"Actually, we have no proof that he killed Nate or Karen." The detective informed him. "No one saw what he was doing the times they were killed!" Sam argued.

"No one saw what you were doing at those times either." Riley countered, "We have a few witnesses that say you were out of the class at both times of death as well. You were the first to find Nate's body on the Middle school roof, and we have witnesses that put you close to the second crime scene a little while before Karen was killed. Whose to say you didn't kill those two and are trying to frame one of your unfortunate victims for your crimes?"

"I didn't kill Nate and Karen!" Sam declared, slamming his bandaged fists on the table, then wincing and hissing from pain and waving his hands a bit, as if it would help lessen the pain.

Anny and Tee chuckled at his frantic waving from behind the two-way mirror, holding their hands over their mouths to stifle their laughter so they wouldn't be kicked out for being too noisy. After his hands seemed to feel better, he scowled at the detective sitting across the table, who was also trying to hold back chuckles, and snapped that, "Larie killed them, not me, and you have no proof connecting me to either of those murders."

"Well, we _do_ have your little murder web, you know the thing on your bedroom wall with all the string and photos and explanations of how the first two murders were committed?"

Sam paled at that a bit before firing back with, "I was using that to figure out how Larie had killed them! If you read what was on it, you'd see that I wasn't sure how much Jamie had helped with the murders!" Sam declared.

"We did read it. We _also_ read Jamie's diary." The detective said, smirking at the boy before him, "The few times Larie Kanker is mentioned is when he asked her if she could take a bucket and a step stool into a bathroom to clean it, when you all started walking home together and when she considers helping him win Anna Marie over…"

"WHAT?" Sam shouted, pushing up from his seat.

"Yeah, didn't you know?" Riley taunted, "Before you got her involved with murder, she was considering offering Larie help to woo Anna Marie. Too bad that never happened, or she'd still probably be alive right now."

"IT'S BECAUSE SHE HELPED LARIE KANKER PULL OFF TWO MURDERS THAT SHE'S DEAD RIGHT NOW!"

"Really? Because, she died from being pushed out of her bedroom window and died on impact with the ground and there is no evidence linking Larie Kanker to the crime scene and the security tapes at the amusement park don't show Larie leaving the park after he entered with his brothers, your sister and your neighbors until he was escorted into an ambulance after you attacked him." Riley countered, "However, there _is_ proof that _you_ were in the room with Jamie when she died, your fingerprints are all over her trashed bedroom, her fingerprints are on the ticket you gave to the person behind the counter, you had her diary on you when we arrested you and the glass you used to stab Larie and Jay Kanker was from her broken bedroom window." He tilted his head, "What happened, Sam, did Jamie figure out that you were doing this for Double-N and not so you two could be together and get upset with you?"

"No!"

"Did she threaten to turn you in if you didn't give up on Double-N? Is that why you pushed her out the window?"

" _No_!"

"Was she feeling overwhelmed with guilt and wanted to tell the truth?"

" _NO_!"

"Then what was it, Sam, were you tired of her being so clingy to you-?"

"SHE SAID SHE'D STAY WITH ME, BUT SHE WAS GOING TO GO TO THE PARK WITH THEM!" Sam blurted, "SHE SAID I WAS ACTING CRAZY AND THAT SHE KNEW I ONLY CARED ABOUT DOUBLE-N AND THAT DOUBLE-N WOULD NEVER LOVE ME!" he started shaking, "I just didn't want to hear her say that, I-I never meant to push her that hard…" tears began pooling in his eyes, "I never wanted to hurt her!" he cried.

"So you pushed her out a God damn window?" Tee murmured.

"Psycho." Anny accused.

"You say you never wanted to hurt her, yet…" Riley said coolly as he tapped the tablet to life, "this e-mail we got from your sister's friends tells us that you have a history of anger problems and violence." He said as he showed him a picture of An when she was around twelve or so, tears trickling down her cheeks. She had a black eye, a bloody nose, bruises on her shoulders, arms and neck. "They sent us years of videos, stories, and pictures of what you did to her, and sometimes them too." He swiped at the screen, "Even your so-called crush, Anna Marie." He said as he revealed a picture of Double-N when she was around twelve or thirteen with a red, swelling hand mark on her cheek and small finger sized bruises on her arm.

"We have a history of you having violent outbursts when you get angry, we have evidence that you have an uncanny knowledge of the school, the two murders and proof that you were the only one who could have done another one. We have a motive, we have evidence and we have your _confession_ for _Jamie's_ _ **murder**_." Riley said, his tone becoming more harsh the more he spoke, "And we'll probably find evidence that you killed Nate and Karen too."

"NO!" Sam cried, "I _may_ have accidently pushed Jamie out the window, but Larie killed Nate and Karen! I swear! I'm _NOT_ a psycho!"

Riley looked at him and shook his head before gathering his things and left the room, leaving Sam alone to get angry that no one believed him and fling the table across the room and began wildly attacking the furniture and walls.

"Not a psycho, huh?" Tee asked Anny, who shook her head as they were escorted out of the room and thanked for their help and cooperation before taken back to the hospital.

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.

.

Jay had woken up a little while after Anny and Tee came back from the police station, taking Double-N, and Larie, who she was guiding due to his eye being removed, aside and telling them something while An hugged Jay tightly and cried about being so happy that he was okay and asking why he did what he did.

"I told ya I'd catch ya next time you felt like you were gonna 'trip', remember?" he said, his voice tired and weak as he held up his pinky, "We pinky promised…" An hooked her pinky with his again as her eyes filled with tears, "Thank you, Jay." She managed to say before holding him in her arms while he gave her a gentle hug and murmured soft words of comfort and confirmation that he'd be okay.

Later, while giving the Kankers some time alone together, Anny told An about her brother officially being charged for his multiple crimes. An bawled in her friends' arms at the news, when her parents arrived, most likely to tell her the news, but upon seeing her swollen red eyes, they instead simply held their arms out for her and the three of them held each other and cried.

The following week, the Ans went to school each day and would leave right after classes ended to either go to the hospital or to the police station or both, then go home where the three of them did their homework together and ate with their families before collapsing into bed. The press hounded An and her family constantly through out this time, asking them about how it felt to live and raise/be raised with a murderer. Anny decking one of them and Double-N pepper-spraying another when some reporters asked An if she worried about waking up one day in the future and discovering that her own children had become psychotic killers like their Uncle Sam.

At her best friends' request, Jenny and Rachel set up several traps for the reporters (they are Urban Rangers, after all) and also were willing to swing some punches when they heard some questions the reporters flung at the simplest An.

Tee was able to go back to school on Thursday that week, but his crutches made it difficult to go up and down stairs for classes, so the Ans, Jenny, Rachel and the rest of the class did their best to help him as much as they could, An nearly carrying him up the steps his first day back until Anny and Double-N stopped her. Anny offered him a deal that she'd help him get around the school if he would share his notes with her (since it's hard to write shit down when your dominant arm is in a sling). While she could have easily used Double-N's notes and just helped him around, An and Double-N said nothing and let their friend enjoy some time with someone who she was obviously interested in. Tee and his father were assaulted by reporters only once on their way to the hospital to visit Jay and Larie, apparently they had made it very clear what would happen if they continued to bother them or An's family, and the press finally backed off.

Larie came back to school a week later, when the date for Sam's trial was announced to the press, with special glasses with one side blacked out and the other side set up to help his right eye's vision get stronger to make up for his lost eye. Double-N fussed over him whenever she could, not that he minded at all, An could easily see that Larie was loving her constant pampering and constant attention and was happy that her friends had found nice boys to like too. It made her wish Jay could come back to school sooner, but she knew it was best that he stay in the hospital until the doctors said he could come to school again, plus, she got to enjoy lots of time with him after school and on the weekends and she had her best friends by her side all day, so it wasn't too bad.

Jay was released from the hospital the week of Sam's trial, which was good, cause An needed all the moral support she could get for it. The trial was hard on An and her parents, they wanted to be there for Sam, but they couldn't stay in the room while he was being questioned by the prosecutor, they quietly left each time he was to be questioned or accused, Jay was kind enough to walk out with her each time.

When An had to take the stand, she was sobbing so hard, the judge had to allow her best friends to translate for her so the court could understand a word she said. She hadn't wanted to go up there and tell them all the bad things her brother did, but, Sam hurt too many people and had tried to kill her for calling him 'Baby Brother', she needed to get him help and the only way to do that was to tell people what was wrong.

She pleaded with the jury to sent him somewhere to get help instead of prison, "He's a good boy deep down!" she exclaimed as tears poured down her cheeks, "He just needs help! Please! Don't send my baby brother to die in prison!"

To her family's relief, it was decided that Sam would be sent to a mental institution, since he was obviously insane, and once he was cleared, he would spend time in prison for his crimes, while it still made them all cry, compared to how much he'd have to endure if he was sentence to a life in prison or a death sentence, it was very lenient and they were grateful for that.

Rachel's family waited a week until after Sam was placed in the nut house before inviting everyone over to celebrate those who had passed. It was hard at first, but Rachel and Jenny managed to liven up the party.

An spotted Larie leading Double-N away from Rachel's farm and towards the school before Jay gently pulled her towards the center of the farm and began twirling her around, making her laugh for the first time in what felt like forever. Yes, her baby brother was going to be gone for a long time, but he would get better and they would be a family again, it wouldn't be easy, but An was tirelessly optimistic. As she and Jay enjoyed doing goofy dances and pulling Winifred in to join them, she let all the pain, guilt and sadness she had been carrying around for so long finally slide off her shoulders as she laughed so hard that she had tears in her eyes.

Anny and Tee made note of Larie and Double-N's departure, but did nothing except chuckle about it and laugh at An and Jay's goofy dance moves before the two dragged them over to join them with Jenny and Rachel dragging their dates in to join in as well. All in All, An felt relieved that all the bad things were finally over and she could go back to being happy with (almost) all the people she loved most beside her.

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.

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Larie led Ann towards the big old Peach Tree on school grounds by the light of the full moon, (she had shown him a way into the school grounds by reaching through the tall hedges and moving a loose board aside in the back of the gardening club's shed that she, Anny and An found a few years back) a big smile on his face and sweat forming on his palms as he held her delicate hand. He was nervous, but determined to do this tonight.

After all, he'd had to wait until after the trial to do this because he knew Ann would want to be there for her friend while her little brother was being charged for both of their crimes. But now there were no more rivals, no more worries about a murderer running around the school, no more police officers and press running around and the tree was almost completely green with only a few blossoms still clinging to the tree, much to his relief. The legend said that there needed to be blossoms falling, and if they didn't fall when they got there, he'd kick the damn tree if he had to so he could give his Muffin a romantic confession that she'd totally say yes to.

Ann didn't question why he wanted to get onto the school grounds so late, she was curious, but she had a feeling that Larie would tell her soon enough and that it would be best to simply go with him and see what happened.

She became a bit flustered when she saw that he was leading her to the big old Peach Tree, where a few pink petals drifted down towards them. She could feel her heart pounding wildly as they climbed up the hill, their fingers intertwined between them. Finally when they got to the top, Larie turned and looked at her, his pink cheeks easy for her to see as he sucked in a breath and held both of her hands in his, "Ann." He said, his voice quaking a bit with nerves as he spoke, "I-I love you. W-Wanna go out?" as soon as the words left his mouth he wanted to kick himself.

'I love you, wanna go out?' That wasn't fucking romantic! That was like the cheapest declaration of love ever said! What was the matter with him! He might of screwed up his one shot!

Ann giggled at his words, a little relieved that he was so straightforward about his feelings, if he had been more poetic, she'd probably faint or be too flustered to properly reply. "I'd like that very much, Larie." She said warmly as she gave him a loving smile and gave his hands a gentle squeeze.

Larie stood before her, dumbfounded.

Holy shit, did she actually say yes to his lame ass confession?

…

Yes, yes she did.

…

Larie suddenly lifted her off the ground and spun her around with an enormous smile on his face, "Larie~!" she laughed as he spun her around for a minute. He stopped spinning her and lowered her enough so their noses were touching, "Thank you, Muffin." He said softly before letting her down so her feet were on the ground again before pulling her into a warm embrace. "My pleasure, Larie." She replied in a tender tone as they held each other.

 _I did it._

 _I finally did it._

 _I had to kill two people, fight off a little psycho stalker and lost an eye, but I finally have my beloved Muffin all to myself._

 _And I'll never let her go. 3_

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Author's Note: Hey look, I'm not dead! I was working on Chapter 14 when my friend LadyCHAOS came up with the idea of combining VampireMeerkat's genius idea of An, Ann 'N Anny with YandereDev's lovely creation, Yandere Simulator with Larie as the Yandere. My brain immediately began cooking up a story and after she and I discussed a possible plot and I received her blessing to use her concept and write a story about it. So I'd like to thank all three of them for being mad geniuses, I'd like to thank LadyCHAOS and Funnypopgirl for being my beta readers, which, with the amount I write, probably takes up a lot of their personal time that they could spend drawing awesome comics or doodles… to their fans I throw myself at your mercy for taking that precious time away, please don't hunt me down and murder me in my sleep.

Speaking of murder… I would really appreciate feedback, I've never written anything like this before (you have no idea how bad I felt killing off Nate, Karen and Jamie), and while it was really hard and I was kinda taken out of my comfort zone while writing this and plan to write happy, funny things after this to make up for the scary things I wrote that happens in this one shot. That being said, I wanted to try writing something different, so I would really like to know what you all think of this.

Anyways, thanks for reading!

Love, Lolz


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